SUMOKEM ~ THE GUARDIAN OF YOSEMITE ... review

Little Rock, Arkansas prog metal sludgsters Sumokem have not had the easiest of rides on their journey to where they are today. their original lead guitarist Josh Ingram sadly passed away in  May 2015 and they parted ways with their bassist Alan Wells a month later but undeterred founder Jacob Sawrie (vocals//rhythm guitar) and Drew Skarda (percussion) decided to carry on and with the recruitment of Tyler Weaver (lead guitar) and Dustin Weddle (bass) a new chapter in the bands story was written, a chapter marked by the release of their first full length album "The Guardian of Yosemite"(released 6th October 2017)

First track "Attack of the Mammoth" musically echoes its title giving a feeling that something large, feral and powerful is coming at you and there is nothing you can do about it except stand strong and try to somehow absorb the impact, Huge swathes of gnarly riffage roll over the listener pushed by growling bass and pulverising but complex percussion all coated in a mixture of growled but clear and pristine clean vocal tones around which swirling guitar solos soar and scream. Heavy, intense with prog-like elements bubbling beneath its surface the song sets a high standard for the rest of the album. "Warning" follows, it's deliciously addictive guitar motifs, swirling over a backdrop of melodic prog-ish/post-rock groove, are overlaid with strong clean vocals. As the song progresses the band move this groove briefly into harder, doomier territory with Sawrie's vocals shifting into feral mode over slow raucous riffage before taking things back to its melodic beginnings for the close. "War Pipe/Rite of the Calumet" tells a tale of Native American mythology against a backdrop swaggering heavy rock underpinned by Weddle's grizzled bass playing and Skarda's powerful,intricate percussion over which Weaver threads swirling lead and Sawrie roars, croons and bellows while chopping out monstrous powerchords. "Ogama" and "Tisayac" follow respectively, the former a mid paced slow burner that starts gentle and considerate and slowly shifts through an array of musical tempo's and vocal dynamics until finally ending in a swathe of metallic bluster, the latter a schizophrenic mixture of chugging riffage and ambient folk tinted prog that sees Weaver providing scorching lead work while Sawrie switches, as the groove dictates, from sweet clean and folky to maniacal and menacing vocally. Reverberating arpeggios played over tribal rhythms herald in "Mescalito/Meeting of the Half Moon" before the hammer goes down and the band shift gear into a sludge drenched refrain with Sawrie roaring his lyrics while Weaver rips scorching solos over the top, the band then taking a detour into the melodic prog arena for the second half of the song. Closer "Nantucket" begins low, slow and heavy with clean vocal tones and searing bluesy guitar solos ringing overhead, the groove switches back and forth between varying degrees of crushing doom/sludge and prog flavoured metal with Sawrie adjusting his vocals accordingly until finally coming to a slow pounding close.
# note those buying the digital version of the album get a near perfect rendition of Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" as a bonus!

Imagine, if you can, a cross between the prog-ish metal of Opeth and the equally prog-ish sludge of Mastodon sprinkled with a touch of stoner swagger and a pinch of heavy metal thunder and you might just arrive at the sound of Sumokem's "The Guardian of Yosemite".
Check it out ....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

HAMMADA ~ SFAIRA ..... review

Every now and then a new release slips through the elaborate netting system Desert Psychlist uses to capture all that is new and interesting in this scene of ours, thankfully those releases that do slip the net are not usually left floundering for long as there are all manner of fans, band members and even PR firms standing ready to throw those strays back into the net for our perusal and review. One such band that initially eluded us is Germany's Hammada a four piece from Freiberg consisting of Kristian Schulze (Vocals, Organ), Christian Döring (Guitar), Lenz Fiedler (Bass) and Sönke Tautorus (Drums) who in February of this year released their latest EP "Sfara"

"Heliokratia" kicks things off nicely, the song beginning with lone guitar tones reverberating over fuzzy white noise before being joined by bass and drums in a hazy lysergic groove interrupted by sporadic moments of heavy psych bluster. The band bring it all down to allow the vocals to enter, Schulze's clean warm tones, crooned over a backdrop WAH drenched bass and pounding drums, are smooth, clean and easy on the ear and retain this clarity even when the songs dynamic shifts into harder territory and he is forced to alter his delivery to match its power. The song holds the listeners interest by shifting through a series of differing soundscapes with soaring bluesy metal, tranquil psychedelics and swaggering classic/hard rock all visited as it weaves and winds its way to it's glorious conclusion.
"Monument" follows and wastes little time in introductions by plunging straight into a fuzz drenched refrain pushed hard by Fiedler's thrumming bass and Tautorus' solid percussion with Schulze crooning and roaring forcefully overhead as well as adding deft touches of  keyboard colouring
"Helios" finishes the EP with a deliciously lysergic romp, coated in Schulze's sublime vocal tones and underscored by his keyboards, that continuously undulates between  moments of heavy stoner brutality and psychedelic tinted beauty. Seamlessly shifting gears and dynamics the song wends its way, enhanced by Doering's scorching solos and driven by Fiedler and Tautorus', drums and bass, through a diverse array of rhythms and grooves finally finishing where it all began in a swathe of white noise.

"Sfaira" is an album that has an echo of the past but lives very much in today, the three songs premiered here having an essence of hard/classic rock, touches of fuzzy stoner bluster and whole lot of diverse and complex groove, if there is a downside to this EP it's that its not a full album!
Check it out....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

SPACESLUG ~ MOUNTAINS & REMINISCENCE ....review

Even before Hawkwind first beamed down to Earth from the planet Ladbroke Grove in the early 70's there have been bands toying with cosmic themes, either in their lyrics, their artwork or in their music. It's not suprising then that space, after women, fast cars, drugs and the devil, is still as popular today, as a subject to base your grooves around. as it ever was.
Polish cosmonauts of groove Spaceslug, Bartosz Janik (guitars/backing vocals), Jan Rutka (bass/vocals) and Kamil Ziółkowski  (drums/main vocals), who have released two previous albums "Lemanis" (Feb. 2016) and "Time Travel Dilemma" (Feb. 2017) ,  have long been fascinated with all things Galactic and this fascination as been the basis around which they have built their sound, the band telling tales of vast multiverses, black holes and dark matter in low clean vocal tones over slow heavy rhythms and swirling psychedelic guitar colouring, themes and grooves they continue to explore on their latest release "Mountains & Reminiscence" (Oak Island Records)

. "Bemused and Gone" signals lift off and propels the listener through the troposphere into the stratosphere with mournful vocal harmonies chanted over a backdrop of slow tribal drumming, growling low bass and soaring guitar solo's before "I Am Gravity" tries to tear your body apart with it's insistent heavy groove and crunching riffage. "Elephemeral" follows and sees Janik laying WAH drenched guitar motifs and crunching powerchords over  Rutka's thrumming bass lines and Ziolkowski's punishing beats all coated in mellow clean vocal harmonies. "Space Sabbath" begins with Janek evoking pinging, spacey effects from his guitar expertly supported by the drums and bass of Ziokowski and Rutka with the drummer crooning mantra-like vocals overhead. The song slowly grows in tempo and menace slipping gradually into a mid-tempo Sabbath-esque groove, broken only by soundbytes lifted from 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey", taking flight again on a wave of Iommi-like guitar colouring before finishing back where it started. We finally reach our destination with "Opposite The Sun" a song that again utilises Iommi-type solo's and riffs but this time sets them against an ever shifting backdrop of strident rhythms overlaid with an array of subtly changing vocal harmonies that gradually decreases in tempo until almost, but not quite, moves into slow blues territory.

Set the controls for the heart of the sun listeners, you are about to go boldly where no man has been before as Spaceslug take you, with "Mountains & Reminiscence", on a musical journey across infinite galaxies and endless universes to a soundtrack of low, heavy riffage and powerful complex rhythms. In space no one can hear you scream.... for MORE!
Check it out ....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

MOUNTAINWOLF ~ ABSINTHE MOON ....review

Absinthe. a strong alcoholic beverage often the favourite tipple of 19th century France's many resident artists and novelists, was also believed (wrongly) to be a hallucinogenic able to inspire high levels of focus and creativity within its drinkers. Now whether this little piece of modern mythology/folklore was the inspiration for Maryland trio Mountainwolf to name their latest opus "Absinthe Moon"(Tiny Horns Records) you will have to ask them but there is an undeniable lysergic quality to be found within its diverse grooves as well as an equally high level of focus and creativity.

"Release me from this prison that you have created for me" screams  vocalist/guitarist Tyler Vaillant on opener "TWST" his clean slightly manic roar, bookended by dissonant crunching chords. booming bass lines (Chris Gipple) and shimmering percussion (Tom Coster), a feral plea to be released from the restraints of an existence not of his choosing. The song and indeed the lyric serve as the perfect opener for an album that breaks as many rules as it creates new ones, an album that flits across genres and musical styles like a bee collecting nectar, unaware that along the way it maybe creating whole new species with its accidental cross pollination. Alt/Grunge dynamics, stoner/hard rock fuzz, psychedelic funkiness and exotic eastern textures are all mixed, blended  and used to great effect throughout "Absinthe Moon" giving the album an at times experimental feel yet one that never strays too far out into the stratosphere, it's swirling heady forays into the unknown anchored to earth by its complex and unrelenting heavy rock rhythms, the resulting sound almost as breath-taking in its diversity as it is in its execution.
Check it out ......

© 2017 Frazer Jones

MOON MOTHER ~ RIFFCRAFT ...review

Such is the significance of Sweden's contribution and influence on the underground rock scene that the mere mention of the words "Moon Mother are a band from Sweden" will no doubt guarantee a whole throng of doomers and stoners pricking up their ears in anticipation.
Moon Mother, Sara Trollpacka (vocals), Pat Ahlstrom (guitar), Jesper Wallin (drums) and Thomas V Jäger (bass) first came to Desert Psychlist's attention via their excellent two song demo "Moon Mother" the demo making such an impact that Hard Rock Revolution (Facebook music forum) were compelled to include the song "Sleeping Society" on their compilation "Vol. III", now, just over a year later, the band are back with four new songs flying under the very descriptive title of "Riffcraft"

"Vast Blues" opens "Riffcraft" with a song that although being infused with an essence of the blues is not quite the delta musing of say Muddy Waters or Robert Johnson. A gnarled, slowly evolving, Ahlstrom guitar motif, underpinned by Jäger's grizzled bass and Wallin's solid economic drums, is overlaid with Trollpacka's distinctive vocal tones, her sweet but grainy voice possessing a slight folkish lilt giving the song an almost Celtic  feel.
"Black Hole Demons" initially veers closer to a traditional blues with Ahlstrom's palm muted guitar motif the foundation around which Trollpacka sings of "Black Hole Demons walking on the Earth". The song then picks up pace and moves into proto-doom territory with Wallin and Jager laying down a solid drum and bass platform for Trollpacka and Ahlstrom to colour with their vocal and six-string colouring before taking things to a close on a wave of slow, low doom-lite groove.
"Mountain of Lies" sees  Moon Mother eschewing the blues orientated grooves visited in the two previous songs and opting for a more doom/occult rock feel with Trollpacka pleading "don't drag me down" against a backdrop of  crunching fuzz and strident but nicely restrained rhythmic bluster.
"The Wizards of Earth" begins with Ahlstrom comping out jazzy guitar chords over an exquisite Jager bass line, expertly supported by Wallin's understated percussion,.with Trollpacka moodily crooning overhead, her voice, pitched in the lower register, taking on an almost sinister aspect. The song then takes a series of twists and turns, with Trollpacka following suite vocally, moving through moments of fuzzy stoner swagger and low doomy atmospherics  before closing in a swathe of lysergic bluesy ambience.

Moon Mother state that their intention is to heal through music and it has to be said that after listening to the soaring lo-fi doom and occult-ish blues grooves of "Riffcraft" Desert Psychlist did feel a little more refreshed and touch more at one with the world.
Check it out ....


© 2017 Frazer Jones

DOGZILLA ~ ASTRAL WORSHIP .... review

Seems quite a time since Desert Psychlist has had the pleasure of featuring a Polish band on its hallowed pages so it is doubly enjoyable that when that country does returns onto our radar it is with a band so damn good it would be remiss of us not to shout it to the world.
Dogzilla are a trio hailing from Tamöw, Poland and consist of the mysteriously named KW (guitar, vocal), JS (bass) and NZ (drums), and are a band who deal in heavy assed sludge/doom grooves tempered with elements of swirling space and heavy psych, all of which can be heard on their soon to be released debut album "Astral Worship" (30th September).

Monster guitar riffage roiling down on you like boulders from a mountain, thunderous bass lines that rumble and groan like distant thunder and pulverising percussion that shakes the very earth beneath your feet are the basis around which a mixture of throaty clean and bear like bellowed vocals tell tales of distant stars, cosmic travel and arid planets. Now from that description you would hazard a guess that Dogzilla are all about brutality and bluster and just another in a long line of  heavy stoner bands more intent on riffs than songs but you would be wrong. It is true there are plenty of riffs and refrains to be found throughout the five songs that make up "Astral Worship" but they are ingrained with subtle touches of lysergic colouring and spacey cosmic texturing, the band, at times coming, across like a sludge metal version of Hawkwind especially on the latter half of album closer "Andromeda". The band never let the riffs dictate the songs however and  move seamlessly through a gamut of different dynamics, tempos and time signatures to keep the listener both interested and on their toes, never sure where the band might take them next. Eastern motifs, moments of ambient space, bluesy guitar solo's, lashings of grinding fuzz and a barrage of pounding rhythmic groove are all thrown into the melting pot to make this not only one of the most interesting albums of its genre but also one of the most satisfying.
Check it out .....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

CROWTALKER ~ CROWTALKER

If you take some bluesy hard rock add a pinch of proto-metal and season with a touch of doom and then coat the resulting groove in Glenn Danzig -like vocal tones then your likely to arrive at a sound not unlike that of Ohio's Crowtalker. Crowtalker, Ryan (drums), Jesse (vocals), Kyle (guitar) and Wig (bass) hail from Columbus, Ohio and are a relatively new band who having only played their first live show in May of this year are trying to keep the momentum going by now releasing their first EP "Crowtalker".

First track "Them Crows" moves from a fizzing drone intro into a bluesy doom refrain that leans more towards the Zeppelin-esque than it does that of the more Sabbath orientated grooves that are the norm today, a groove ingrained with a dark metallic edginess that even  Page & Co., at their most satanic, would probably struggle to replicate. Over this tornado of metallic delta groove are delivered powerful deep baritone vocals that have, as already mentioned, a distinct Danzig like feel giving the song an added dimension of gothic rock splendour.
"Sleeper" starts off life as a stonerized hard rocker driven by booming bass lines and pounding drums furnished off nicely by an addictive fuzz drenched guitar motif before shifting gear into a pulverising slow, low doom groove with those uber-strong vocal tones roaring manfully over the top.
"Wither" raises the tempo and sees the band jamming a galloping hook laden groove, replete with clever little musical twists and turns, around a slightly more strident vocal performance.
"The Well/Train Wreck" is, at a guess, two songs cleverly cobbled together to make one epic statement with the first part having an almost outlaw country feel, both musically and vocally, and the second  being a storming atmospheric doomy blues foray enhanced by crunching riffs and searing guitar solos all underpinned by a pummelling, pulverising combination of bass and drums.

Swagger is often a word bandied around when describing music that has a bluesy core but what does that mean? Well the English Dictionary defines swagger as " to walk or behave in a very confident and arrogant or self-important way" and if you transpose this to musical terms then we are talking about grooves that have a certain strutting quality that say "this is us and this is what we do, deal with it" and "Crowtalker" is an EP that swaggers like a peacock in full display from start to finish.
Check it out ....

© 2017 Frazer Jones