BEASTMAKER ~ COVEN BORN ..... review

Touring can be an expensive business, you often have to speculate to accumulate and the returns for that speculation are not always immediately forthcoming, it may be a while before you recoup on your investments with those returns often coming in the shape of album and merchandise sales something that cannot be usually gauged until the tour is over. With the slow demise of the "traditional" record companies it is now often the band/artist who has to find the means to fund, not only, the initial layout for touring but also for recording and releasing their material.
Fresno's Beastmaker are planning to tour Europe and in order to help fund this excursion the band are, with a little help from Rise Above Records and Branca Studio, releasing an EP of tunes that for one reason or another didn't quite make the cut for their "Lusus Naturae" album (2016). The EP "Coven Born" will only be available digitally and only for a short period of time.

The first thing that hits the listener about the four songs that make up "Coven Born" is the quality of both the songwriting and their sonic impact, these are not songs left off an album because they were not good enough these are strong, powerful tunes that may have missed the cut only for the fact other songs that did were, at the time, deemed just that bit stronger.
Title track "Coven Born" opens with keyboards playing an eerie horror film inspired motif before Trevor William Church announces his arrival with a similarly eerie guitar refrain backed by John Tucker's huge grizzled bass and Andres Alejandro Saldate's punchy drums. Church, who also provides vocals, is right up front in the mix his clean, slightly gothic tinted, tones combining with his undeniably deft guitar skills to give the song an epic doom feel that leans more towards the altar and grave outpourings of Candlemass than the usual Sabbath comparisons that are often thrown the band's way.
"Killing Spree" follows a similar path to Sabbath's iconic song "Black Sabbath" in that the songs narrator is visited by an apparition while lying in his bed only this time the perpetrator of this visitation is a female with intentions a little more gruesome than just pointing a finger. Nicely paced with a chugging groove interspersed with clever little hooks it is hard to understand why this has never saw the light of day before now.
Tolling bells herald the next track "Amongst The Buried" the song again utilising a bedrock of  gnarly distorted bass and pulverising percussion for Church to decorate with his distinctive vocal tones and fret melting guitar pyrotechnics.
"Whitewood" closes the EP and finds Beastmaker still working within their chosen field of horror inspired grooviness but  shaking those grooves up with little touches of lysergic colourings and textures as well as throwing in a few well chosen soundbytes lifted from classic horror movies Church also lays down some truly incendiary neo-classical shredding expertly backed up by Tucker and Saldate.

Beastmaker have stated that as soon as their proposed European tour is over "Coven Born" will no longer be available to the general public so do yourself a huge favour and snag it now before its too late, you will not regret it!
Check it out ....


© 2017 Frazer Jones

THE STONE EYE ~ THE MEADOW ..... review

The Stone Eye, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, certainly know how to make a tuneful and  very powerful noise ,especially when you consider there are just two guys in the band. Jeremiah Bertin (drums) and Stephen Burdick (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard) are The Stone Eye two guys who take their rock influences from a broad spectrum that stretches from Dinosaur Jr. through to Ghost.
The band are about to release their third full length album "The Meadow" ( September 02) and its one that sits very nicely on the ears.

The Stone Eye throw all their influences and inspirations into one big melting pot, alt/grunge, stoner and hard rock can all be found juicily bubbling next to elements of psych and post-rock in one big gumbo of groove made even more palatable by Burdick's slightly slurred, slightly gothic tinted vocal tones. Burdick's warm clean voice, tinged with world weariness, dominates the twelve songs that make up The Stone Eye's new opus "The Meadow". the vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist conveying a myriad of emotions and moods in his delivery without having the need to go overboard into vocal pyrotechnics, his voice and his instrumental prowess both pushed hard and benefiting from Bertin's sympathetic and, at times startlingly intricate and complex rhythmic patterns.

The alt/grunge tag mentioned earlier is probably the one closest to describing what The Stone Eye bring to the table musically but that is not to say that there is not more to be found here if you bother to dig a little deeper and "The Meadow" is an album well worth digging into, from the stoner-ish hard/classic rock of "Farewell Lady" through to the wah drenched loud/quiet/loud aesthetics of "The Heathen" listeners will find more than enough hooks to hang their respective tags/labels/descriptions on. Desert Psychlist's advice however would be to be stick "The Meadow" on a sound system of your choice and just bathe in the brilliance of it's strong songwriting and addictive catchy hooks and  grooves.
Check it out ...


© 2017 Frazer Jones

NIGHT GOAT ~ CHICKEN EP & EGG EP ..reviews

This is a first for Desert Psychlist, reviewing two simultaneously released EP's from the same band on the same page! The band in question are a vocal (Kat), drum (David) and guitar (Brad) trio from Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia going by name of Night Goat, the EP's in question released under the cryptic titles "Chicken" and "Egg" (Lint Music) and as the band say on their Bandcamp page " it is up to you to decide which one came first"

Let's start with "Chicken"..

"Romanes Eunt Domus" opens "Chicken" with shimmering guitar arpeggios swept over solid and intricate drum patterns gradually growing in intensity until finally exploding into a heavy doom hued groove with those arpeggios making way for thick downtuned riffs and the drums taking on a heavier pounding approach. This sudden wave of heaviness then subsides to make way for the vocals and we, the listeners, get our first taste of what makes Night Goat tick and sets them apart from the usual doom drenched suspects. In a genre dominated by guttural howls and demonic harshness Kat's vocals come as a revelation, her warm smoky tones with mellow jazz colourings  ooze and soar over Brad's dark doomic guitar tones and David's diverse rhythmic patterns floating majestically above them like dark glistening oil sitting on a stormy blue sea.

"16 Ounce World" ramps up the jazziness with Kat crooning heartfelt lyrics of pain and despair over a backdrop of gently picked guitar complimented by sympathetic and understated percussion. Intense, emotional and achingly beautiful it's only fault is in the brevity of its length.

"Norwegian Blues" begins with Brad chopping out a lone and darkly distorted blues tinted guitar refrain before being joined by David's drums, the pair taking off into a thrumming heavy blues groove that although having its roots in the delta has, courtesy of Kat's mellow dark vocals,Brad's low menacing guitar tones and David's powerful percussion,  at least some of it's branches dangling menacingly over the cemetery gates of doom. 

"Egg" is next...

"Egg" leans a little heavier towards the blues than "Chicken" with Brad and David bringing an element of swagger and strut to proceedings, albeit an element tinged with a large quantity of doomic darkness. This is most evident on opening song "How To Make Soap" where David opts for a guitar tone and delivery more akin to that of Led Zep's Jimmy Page in his darker moments than the Iommi-isms that are usually the norm when dealing with doom flavoured music. This bluesier approach pays off nicely when combined with David's Bonham-esque drumming, the pair coming together to lay a huge swathe of riffage and rhythm for Kat to counterbalance and decorate with her smoky jazz tinted vocal tones.

"Nebuchadnezzar Blues" continues the delta toned theme but this time approaches from a more "traditional" heavy blues direction and sees Kat briefly dropping her jazzy vocal inflections for a more straight ahead vocal styling. The song takes a turn towards the more metallic as it approaches its nadir with the Brad and David hitting a chugging stoner/doom groove to take things to a close.

"Have I Joined a Cult?" moves slightly away from the crossroads of Robert Johnson and finishes the EP with an atmospheric and moody jaunt that takes in elements of shimmering psych and moody doom  all coated in Kat's warm emotive vocals, the song bringing "Egg" to a close with style and finesse, leaving the listener with the unwavering feeling he/she has just heard something utterly unique and special.

Two EP's, three people, one great groove

Check 'em out.....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

THE ARATACA STONED FARMERS ~ TALES FROM ARATACA - CHAPT- 03 .... review

The Arataca Stoned Farmers met by happy accident and from that accident a friendship formed, not content with just being friends the four guys took their friendship  one step further by forming a band! Angelo Bracht (guitar), Fernando Schmitz (vocals), Arthur Luciano Gunther (bass) and Gustavo Hansen (drums) hail from Joinville, Brazil a  metropolitan region where many of the population are descended from European stock.
The band, who have previously released a couple of two track affairs titled "Tales from Arataca" and "Tales From Arataca - Chapt. 2" respectively, have this time  gone to the previously unprecedented lengths of releasing an EP with a whopping three tracks on it, an EP that flies under the, not so surprising, banner of  "Tales from Arataca - Chapt. 03"

Those European roots mentioned earlier raise their heads at the start of "Melting Paintings" the song introduced by what sounds to be a soundbyte lifted from a German movie (Desert Psychlist is no linguist so this could well be another language) before exploding into crunching, fuzz drenched stoner groove replete with grumbling bass and pounding percussion over which are roared gritty clean vocals. Vocalist, Schmitz,  although not the most powerful you'll ever hear, compensates for his lack of rock-god vocal pyrotechnics by delivering good clean tones  phrased with a throaty grittiness that sit nicely within the songs mix managing to make their presence felt without the need for vocal showboating. Bracht's dark downtuned guitar tones and palm muted refrains give the song an almost proto-doom feel, the guitarist utilising touches of Iommi-esque colouring in his solo's, neatly pulling them off yet managing to avoid the pitfall of dragging the song into the realms of Sabbath worship by adding his own twist on them..
"The Harvest" follows,  a gnarly assed short sharp hard rock/stoner outing laced with metallic undertones pushed hard by Hansens' insistent percussion and Gunther's grizzled bass lines. "Mother Nature was my giver" sings Schmitz against a backdrop of crunching riffage and pounding rhythms before manfully roaring "It's harvest time" the songs addictive call and response chorus.
"Bullfrog" closes "Tales From Arataca -Chapt.03" with a fuzz soaked desert/stoner groove played at almost thrash-like tempo with Gunther's bass booming and growling beneath Bracht's swirling bluesy guitar riffs, licks and solo's expertly supported by Hansen's titanic drums. Schmitz pitches his vocals a little higher to match the songs furious pace the singer telling his tale of the humble bullfrog with clean clear but grit tinted conviction.

It seems The Arataca Stoned Farmers idea of releasing their music in short sharp short, sharp jabs that hit their listeners fast and hard is one that works well for them, leaving their listeners battered , bruised and breathless, not sure what as just happened to them but desperate for the next chapter.
Check 'em out ....


© 2017 Frazer Jones

BLUES FUNERAL ~ AWAKENING .... review

Progressive rock exploded into life in the 1970's, the genre utilising influences from a broad spectrum of musical styles that included classical music, psychedelic rock, folk and hard rock, blending these styles into complex musical arrangements that had an almost orchestrated feel about them. Musicians who played this music were mostly highly skilled technicians who were masters of their chosen instruments and although this resulted in some of the most exciting music of its time it was also the downfall of the genre. By the late 70's and early 80's prog had become a bit of a joke, the complex arrangements had become overblown and overindulgent, with prog bands releasing confusing "concept" albums that often had no basis in any sort of reality, and with musicians who were often more interested in displaying their technical prowess than playing for the song. The genre was slowly losing it's audience and by the time punk exploded in 1976 it was almost all over for prog!

Not quite though, there will always be musicians who strive for more in their playing, and so a new breed of musicians evolved, musicians who wanted to stretch themselves musically but at the same time keep at least one foot in the mosh pit, finding a balance between complexity and groove without compromising their ideals.
One such band to walk the line between hard rocking swagger and cerebral musicality are Texas quartet Blues Funeral, Jan Kimmel (guitar, Nord, vocals), Maurice Eggenschwiler (guitar, vocals), Cory Cousins (drums) and Gabriel Katz (bass), four guys with a penchant for complexity and metallic bluster who, last year (2016) caused a small tsunami of  appreciation to ebb their way with the release of their debut album "The Search". a wonderful blend of prog, hard rock and stonerized blues rock, This year (2017) the band follow up that album, striking while the iron is still hot, with a new opus "The Awakening"

From the opening bars of first track "Shadow of the Snake" it's fairly obvious that Blues Funeral take their muse from a time far removed from the harshness of today's doom and stoner scene, the songs classic rock groove. driven by Cousins and Katz's sterling drums and bass work. is wrapped in swathes of swirling Deep Purple-esque keyboard colouring, courtesy of Kimmel, and enhanced by Eggenschwiler's crunching riffage, soaring solo's, Kimmel and Eggenschwiler sharing  vocal duties, both distinctive and powerful. This one song, on it's own, tells you everything you need to know about what Blues Funeral bring to the table, the band injecting a freshness and vitality into a genre of music, that those of us old enough to remember, thought had lost its lustre.
A mythical tale told in a mix of lone and harmonized vocals, title track "Awakening" sees Kimmel and Eggenschwiler trading off solo's and riffs around a crunching hard rock groove with Kimmel providing occasional tasteful keyboard flourishes while Katz and Cousins keep things tight and solid beneath.
"Illusion of Reality" finds Blues Funeral adding a touch of pop sensibility and hard rock swing into their groove. Easy on the ear and boasting killer guitar solos and an absolutely infectious singalong chorus the song shows this band are as quite capable of reaching a more mainstream audience as they are of pleasing those of a more discerning underground bias.
"Firedrake" heads back into classic/prog rock territory with Kimmel's keyboards pushed to the fore touching on classical themes and motifs along the way. There is an underlying doom-ish feel to the proceedings here, not in a modern brutal way but in a more traditional prog orientated direction, a feeling made even more prevalent by its lyrical content...  "Do you envy the dead? Gods cry when even Death feels sorrow".
"Casimir" sees the band exploring eastern themes and motifs over an ever shifting rhythmic backdrop, excellently provided by  Katz and Cousins, with Kimmel and Eggenschwiler trading melodies and harmonies both on guitar and vocals.
"Gathering Dust" ramps up the bands prog factor to eleven and sees the band switching seamlessly between differing time signatures and dynamics while at the same time retaining those doomish-hues hinted at in previous track "Firedrake". Atmospheric and emotive it is a fitting finale to a fine collection of songs.

Prog is alive and well, it maybe not as you remember it back in the days of capes and dry ice but Blues Funeral, with "Awakening", have shown that you don't have to be overblown and overwhelming to show off your musical chops and that "there is still life in the old prog yet"
Check it out ....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

THE NECROMANCERS ~ SERVANTS OF THE SALEM GIRL ... review

Tom Cornière (Vocals, Guitar), Robin Genais (Lead Guitar), Simon Evariste (Bass Guitar) and Benjamin Rousseau (Drums) are collectively known as The Necromancers, a quartet from

Poitiers, France with a penchant for progressive tinted metal grooves sprinkled with a modicum of hard rock/stoner fuzz and a soupcon of psych and post-rock texturing. The band recently signed with those arbiters of good taste and all things fuzz shaped, Ripple Music, and have just released their debut album "Servants of the Salem Girl"

"Salem Girl Pt.I" opens innocently enough with Cornière laying down  a lone slow, low doom-ish guitar motif which, with a few minor alterations, is mirrored by Genais' cleaner six-string tones. This innocence and post-rock serenity is shattered when without warning when Evariste's grumbling bass and Rousseau's powerhouse drums join the party and the song explodes into a strident metallic stoner groove overlaid with a mixture of Maiden/Priest-esque guitar harmonies and crunching stoner riffage pushed hard by the aforementioned drummer and bassist.. Over and around this maelstrom of galloping NWOBHM and stoner/hard rock bluster are wrapped Cornière's powerful vocal tones, the singer's throaty mixture of bear-like roars and gritty clean croons taking the songs intensity and the bands sonic impact to a whole new level.
"Lucifer's Kin" is up next and sees Rousseau utilising all sorts of percussive tricks and effects to create a hellish atmosphere beneath which Evariste lays a slow, achingly sinister, bass motif that is then joined by Genais and Cornière's guitars in a groove that has a distinctive epic/traditional doom feel. The song then takes a left turn into Sabbath-esque proto doom territory with Cornière crooning tales of the horned one over swathes of grainy cantering riffage, the song swinging back and forth between these two dynamics of doomitude broken only by a short lysergic section where Genais lets loose with some truly scorching lead work before diving back into the traditional/proto groove to take the song to its screeching guitar fuelled epic finale.
"Black Marble House" opens with a palm muted guitar riff beneath chiming arpeggios then, after a brief moment of lone drumming, segues into deliciously addictive stoner/hard rock groove replete with little catchy guitar and vocal hooks. Cornière's vocals  here take on a more melodic vocal tone. slowly growing in graininess and grittiness as the song progresses, roaring like a wounded bear by the time the song reaches it's noisy pummelling climax. It's truly difficult to convey in words how damn good this tune is!
"Necromancers" is one of those tunes that despite its dark subject matter and chorus of "Hey Lucifer" has an undeniable feel good factor that will have the listener smiling like a demon with a new possession well before it reaches its sudden full stop. It's party time in Hades everyone, grab a pitchfork and boogie on down!
"Grand Orbiter" explodes straight out of the speakers on a wave of caustic wah drenched riffage and pulverising rhythm coated in melodic vocal harmonies then shifts down the gears into a slightly less abrasive groove with chiming arpeggios echoing over bone crumbling bass and intricate percussion with Cornière adjusting his vocal tones accordingly. The song moves through a series of shifting time signatures and rhythmic patterns without once losing its focus and finds Evariste and Rousseau laying down solid backdrops of diverse rhythmic groove for Genais and Cornière to embellish with superb guitar texturing and vocal colouring.
"Salem Girl Pt. II" ramps up the bands doom factor to eleven by opening with a low, slow and heavy refrain that sees Genais and Cornière crunching out heavily distorted riffs over a backdrop of titanic drumming and earth shaking bass. Not a band who like to overstay their welcome on one groove it is not long before The Necromancers move things along and take off on a tangent. raising both the tempo and temperature by heading into a more stoner metal direction fragmented by moments of post-rock/prog texturing. Cornière roars like an angry bull on the more aggressive sections dropping to a clean melodic tone in the songs quieter moments, his diversity of vocal styles matched by his equally diverse array of rhythmic guitar tones, but it is Genais' scorching lead work that is the cherry on this particular cake, the guitarist excelling in his choice of notes and chord progressions, exploiting spaces within the music to unleash searing guitar solo's that tear through the songs darkened groove like lightening tearing through a night sky, breathtaking at times.

There has been some talk of late along the lines that the stoner/hard rock/psych and doom scene is  getting a little stale and old hat, saturated by an influx of similar sounding bands with a lack of originality all vying for the attention of what is essentially still a relatively small fan base. There may be some truth in that train of thought but while there are still bands seemingly appearing from nowhere to assail our ears with albums as good and as exciting as The Necromancers " Servants of the Salem Girl" then we shouldn't worry too much.quite yet!
Check it out .....


© 2017 Frazer Jones

TURBOBOBCAT ~ PENTASTAR ROCKET RIDE ... review

Turbobobcat, a quartet from Catania, Sicily consisting of Federico 'SaturnFaun' Indelicato (vocals/rhythm guitar), Davide 'Mr. White' Guardo (lead guitar), Martino 'Mr. Firebird' Razza (bass guitar) and Pietro 'Pyt' Leanza (drums) were formed as recently as 2016 but immediately gelled as a musical force, the four musicians finding  common ground in their love of Monster Magnet, Fu Manchu, Motorhead and Orange Goblin, the band fusing elements of their heroes into their  own sound,  a sound soaked in a profusion of rhythmic bluster, heavy fuzz and devastating  distortion. Turbobobcat, not wanting the grass to grow too fast under their feet wasted no time in formulating their ideas into songs and were soon committing those songs onto tape, the result being this their debut EP "Pentastar Rocket Ride"

"Pentastar" erupts into being with wave of circular guitar riffage and howling feedback then explodes into a bruising desert/stoner groove with Leanza's powerful drum beats the anchor around which Indelicato's rhythm guitar and Razza's bass lay down a swathe overdriven groove. Indelicato as well as his rhythm guitar duties also supplies vocals, his clean, edgy tones roaring tongue in cheek lyrics telling of "smoking shitty rays of light" amid "stoned distorsion, engine combustion" and " Weedian spacecrafts". Around these tales of cannabis tinted space and time Guardo adds dark swathes of gritty guitar colouring, filling in the spaces the others leave behind with scorching solo's, spacey licks and clever fills, the lead guitarists contributions the icing on a very tasty cake.
"TURBOBOCAT" follows, a song that can be perceived either as a story of a bunch of desperado's robbing their way across the country or as a not-so veiled celebration of being in that ultimate of gangs...a band. Born out of one of those rolling refrains that early stoners Fu Manchu were famous for the song has a distinctive 90's desert feel, a feel further enhanced by its heavily fuzzed chainsaw guitar tones and its furiously driven bass and drum groove.
"Bigfoot (Ruler of the Shire)" opens with the voice of a park guide welcoming you to Yellowstone Park and to "Walk in line, hold tight onto your cameras" before we are thrown into a chugging rhythmic guitar refrain supported by solid drums and bass over which Guardo adds deft touches of fuzz drenched six-string colouring. Over this gamut of blues tinted groove and fuzz soaked riffage Indelicato takes on the role of narrator and principle character lifting his voice into powerful rock god mode for the former and dropping down into guttural growling for the latter shifting between the two styles with consummate ease and giving the song an almost cinematic feel and closing the EP on a strong and very enjoyable high.

Italians are well known for their stylish fashion sense and exquisite food, what they are less known for is their hard rock/stoner riffage and raucous rhythms but that might all change once the world catches an earful of Turbobobcat's  "Pentastar Rocket Ride"
Check it out ....

© 2017 Frazer Jones