KHOX ~ MOTEL SEX ..... review

Aggression is something frowned upon in polite society but in music, and especially amongst the  metal community, aggression is something we tend to gravitate towards. Now Desert Psychlist is not suggesting metalheads, doomsters and stoners are people to be avoided due to their aggressive natures or dangerous personalities because that would not be true, we are talking strictly in musical terms here. Hard, fast. loud  and aggressive music has a way of getting the blood flowing, if you've ever witnessed or been part of a mosh-pit at a live metal gig you will totally understand what we mean, the pace, the power and heaviness of the grooves just speaks to something inside us that other music's just can't reach.
Khox, a five piece from Quebec, Canada consisting of Maxime Gelinas (guitars), Francis Beausoleil (guitars), Dzemal Trtak (bass), William Lapointe (vocals, keyboards) and Alexandre Savard (drums). play their grooves with a feral eyed ferocity that could not be described as anything other than aggressive. The band drawn together from members of such notables as Unfallen, Sandveiss and The Aftermath have just released their debut "Motel Sex".

 "Snakecharmer" erupts out of the speakers like a fledgling xenomorph bursting out of John Hurt's chest and sets the tone for an album that gives no quarter and takes no prisoners. Hard rocking guitar refrains are the order of the day throughout "Motel Sex" pushed hard by a combination of growling bass and incessant percussion over which wild eyed, throat shredding vocals of furiosity and anger are not so much sang but are spewed out with venom. Subtlety is not something  high on Khox's musical agenda this is a band whose modus operandi is one of attack attack ,attack and they do so with a relish that would make a Viking Berserker shed a blooded tear of pride. If you are coming to this release hoping for moments of serene ambience and elements of trippy lysergic navel gazing then maybe you better look elsewhere as what Khox deliver to the ear canals is a full on assault to the senses, the band crashing through twelve songs that never let up in either their intensity or pace. From the raucous riffage of the aforementioned "Snakecharmer" to the chugging metal groove of final track "Dominatrix" Khox never let the temperature drop a degree below searing, scorching the earth before them with a sound that although may not kill you will leave you with life changing injuries.

Filthy mouthed, hard, loud and totally unrelenting Khox's "Motel Sex" is everything your mothers warned you against, and for that reason alone you should...
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

PATHOS ~ RAPTURE ..... review

Prog rock can send a shiver of horror up the spines of those that prefer their grooves heavy, brutal and loud but if its done right and manages to avoid the traps of over-complexity and self-indulgence it can be a thing of true beauty. Gone are those days of overblown stage shows and band members comically dressed in capes and cowls, replaced instead by musicians dressed in denim and t-shirts whose only interest is in the music itself.

Pathos are one such band , the quintet from Minas Gerais, Brazil made many new friends with the release of their 2015 debut "Elixir", prompting Doomed and Stoned's Paul Rote to exclaim "Reminds me of some obscure late seventies masterpiece". It's been a while but the band return this year with a whole new album, "Rapture",  and in keeping with the nature of the music they play it's an album that shows a true level of progression.

Title track "Rapture" gets the ball rolling, a song with a bluesy, almost funky vibe, Ricardo Marliere's guitar, dialled to warm and fuzzy, adding a stoner rock like slant to the early proceedings. This stoner(ish) vibe is short lived however and around the halfway mark the band take a trip down paths of a more jazz fusion nature with Luiz Henrique Andrès' lush keyboards bringing an almost Steely Dan feel to the party, a feel made even more Steely and Dan-ish courtesy of JP Viera's smooth clean vocal tones which are beautifully framed by Lucas Guida's exquisite booming bass lines and Hugo Moutinho's intricate jazzy percussion. The song takes off again into harder territory's as it nears its conclusion, the band showing that they have lost none of that rockiness that made their debut such a joy to listen to. That "rockiness" of the previous tracks finale flows into next track "Coniunctio", it's growling heavily strident groove, driven by Marliere's equally heavily strident guitar, is enhanced by expertly delivered lyrics that alternate between Portuguese and English. Nothing is a given in "Pathosland" however and the band close out the song with a dance inducing Latin fusion groove that had Desert Psychlist recalling times spent listening to Brazilian artists like Antonio Carlos Jobim, Flora Purim and Azymuth. "Cartel" follows and begins with a quote from philosopher/social critic Noam Chomsky, narrated over a backdrop of swirling Latin-esque prog before segueing into a medium paced, heavy but not brutal, hard progressive rock groove pushed by Marliere's crunching riffs and underpinned by a solid bass and drum performance from Guida and Moutinho, Viera's superb vocals providing the dressing, Andrès keyboards the texture. "Eve's Dropping Apples" blends gentle balladry with prog rock muscle while "I Don't Dream With Gods" shape shifts between being an atmospheric torch song and a no holds barred prog workout. "End of Spring" closes "Rapture" by bringing all the threads weaved on previous songs together in one place with Latin texture, prog complexity and good ol' fashioned bluesy swagger all raising their heads proudly above the parapet.

Those who regularly read the pages of Desert Psychlist might now be thinking "Latin Fusion! Steely Dan"! Where are the raucous down tuned riffs, growling bass and pummelling drums?" Well they are there you just have to look a little harder for them but while you are looking you might just find that those Latin textures, prog nuances and jazz colourings Pathos also bring to the table, on "Rapture", are subtly imbedding themselves in your psyche and your foot is involuntary beating out a Latin rhythm.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones

ELECTRIC BELT ~ NEVER SEEN THE DEVIL .... review

It always comes back to the blues, it has to, the blues is the most emotive of genres ever invented, it can make you dance, it can make you cry, it can be vitriolic and it can be complimentary, the blues is all things to all men (and women).

Sebas Bautista (guitars), Miguel Ortega (drums), Javyer López (vocals) and Pablo García (bass) are Electric Belt a quartet, from Jaén, Spain, who have a mojo and are not afraid to use it, a blues based band with a penchant for salting their delta grooves with a healthy dose of fuzz, as can be heard on their new album "Never Seen The Devil" (Discos Macarras Records).

"Never Seen The Devil" comes straight outta the traps with " Tavern Sinners Lament" a down home country blues romp complete with sliding guitar and a stomping bass drum accompaniment with López's big soulful bellow giving the song an authentic field hollerin' gravitas, a sound and groove that recalls the delta attack of USA's Left lane Cruiser. "Werewoolf Woman" follows and takes the form of a more modern blues rocker with Garcia's bass and Ortega's drums holding down the groove while Bautista fills the spaces with crunching chords and searing lead, López incredible voice proving to be the cherry on the cake his vocals bringing just the right balance of gritty might and measured soulfulness to proceedings. Next up, "The Liar Goes To Church", sees the band adding a little funkiness into the mix with Bautista's choppy guitar refrain driving the songs groove. Things take a drastic change in direction on "Hacia la Cueva de los Muñecos" the band sliding into a lysergic instrumental replete with tinkling bells, plucked bridge strings, hand percussion and jazzy six-string noodling before segueing into a bass heavy psychedelic Latin fusion groove, Normal service is resumed on title track "Never Seen The Devil" an epic twelve minute plus heavy blues that is the perfect vehicle for each member to showcase their instrumental and vocal skills both as individuals and as part of an ensemble.The band finish with another visit to the country blues of the first track with "Tired and Bored", it's tub thumping percussion, call and response vocals and superbly executed slide guitar ensuring you leave this album with a broad and cheesy grin spread across your face.

Superb from its opening note to its last "Never Seen The Devil" is an album that goes a long way in explaining why, when other music's may fall by the wayside, the blues remains still as relevant today as it has ever done.

Check it out …. 

© 2019 Frazer Jones

HHOOGG ~ EARTHLING, GO HOME ...... review

Musical Improvisation (definition) : performance given extempore without planning or preparation.
To put that definition into layman's terms would be to say... music that can go in any direction at any given time, music steered only by the whims and imagination of the musicians executing that music.
Boston, Massachusetts collective Hoogg's third release "Earthling, Go Home" is an album of improvisational music, the band having entered into the studio with no preconceived ideas and in effect just pushed the record button and gone for it! This off the cuff approach can sometimes be risky and fraught with failure but we at Desert Psychlist think Hhoogg's  "Earthling, Go Home" manages to pull off playing the "improv" card without suffering any significant injuries.

"Space,the final frontier" were the words that introduced each and every episode of TV's original Star Trek franchise and space is the theme running through all seven of this albums jams. Space may have frontiers but the music Hhoogg bring to the party however seems not to have, Hhoog are fearless in their improvisations the band unafraid to go wherever the groove takes them, be that swirling and lysergic, brutal and heavy or serene and ambient. "Earthling, Go Home" is an album drenched in diversity, a place where complex chord progressions can just as suddenly be replaced by crunching powerchords as they can be by intricate jazzy noodling, keyboards that can swoop as much as they can swirl, bass lines that can growl or flow like liquid mercury and percussion that can be as shimmering as it is pummelling. There are no rules here apart from the ones being made up on the spot, the band confusing, confounding their listeners as much as they dazzle and delight them.

Improvisation is not an exact science, as legendary Norwegian jazz saxophonist Jan Garbarek once said "Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that's what we face when we're dealing with improvisation". "Earthling, Go Home", although a little meandering and wayward in places, works.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

ALMOST HONEST ~ SEICHES AND SIRENS .... REVIEW

Desert Psychlist closed its review of Almost Honest's previous release "Thunder Mouth" with the words "Quirky, funky, gritty and raucous all wrapped up in one bundle might sound like a recipe for disaster but Almost Honest manage to pull all these threads together to create an album that is slightly different but highly enjoyable". Well the good news is the bands new album "Seiches and Sirens" follows much the same path, still quirky, still funky, still gritty, still raucous and still damn enjoyable, the bad news is.....well there isn't any bad news.

A galloping, almost thrash-like refrain introduces first track "Fools Gold Flesh" and from that moment on its all aboard the Almost Honest express to quirksville as the band steam through ten songs that run the full gamut of all that is good within the stoner/hard rock scene. Melody and might are Almost Honest's calling cards and they use both to great effect, crunching chord progressions and jagged solo's , growling bass lines and tight complex drum patterns populate weirdly titled songs like "Interstellar Executive", "Dancing Shaman and the Psychedelic Cactus" and "Jenny Greenteeth" and combine with the mix of off-kilter melodies, unconventional and quirky lead vocals and occasional bear like growls to create a sound that is as kooky and weird as it is breath-taking and brilliant!

If you are an underground rock fan looking for something in the vein of Sleep, Sabbath or Elder well then you might have lucked out landing on this review, but if you came looking for something a little wacky, eccentric and challenging that doesn't quite conform to the norm then "Seiches and Sirens" is the gift that keeps on giving.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

ELEPHARMERS ~ LORDS OF GALAXIA .... review

Desert Psychlist is ashamed to admit that despite the release of two previous albums Elepharmers latest venture, "Lords of Galaxia" (Electric Valley Records), is the very first time we have listened to the band. How we have missed out on this intriguing Italian trio from the island idyll of Sardinia is beyond us, but believe us when we say, on the evidence of "Lords of Galaxia", their back catalogue is now our number one priority of things to check out.

The sci-fi novel/comic type artwork that adorns "Lords of Galaxia" leaves no doubt in the mind that Elepharmer's interests lie at the more cosmic end of the rock spectrum, not so much in the way of say Hawkwind, Øresund Space Collective or the early space rock of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd but with more of a Clutch,Cybernetic Witch Cult approach, in other words still utilising all the swirling whoops and whistles of the former but with the crunching metal riffs and blues infused grooves of the latter.
Dark crackling static heralds in first track "Ancient Astronauts" followed by a pulsating electronic groove over which spoken narrative sets the scene for the song, and for that matter the albums, lyrical storylines of extra-terrestrial visitation, space lords and cosmic conflicts Around these tales, told in clean, strong vocal tones, are laid grooves that swing between driving hard/stoner rock and spacey psych, Maurizio Mura (drums) and El Chino (vocals; rhythm guitar; bass; harmonica) providing a huge foundation of diverse and delightful cadences for guitarist Andrea "Fex" Cadeddu to decorate with his fiery rhythm and lead work., his blues infused solo's and crunching riffs undershot with an array of swooping, swirling effects giving songs like "Ziqqurat", "The Foundation" and "Stars Like Dust" an added element of cosmic gravitas.

Based around the novels of sci-fi writer Issac Asimov and the ancient astronaut theories of author Zecharia Sitchin "Lords of Galaxia" is that much maligned of mediums a "concept" album, however where many concepts fail ,due to being over convoluted and just to damn clever for their own good, "Lords of Galaxia" works because its "concept" is kept simple and works like a novel, each song a page in a very exhilarating and mind blowing tale.
Check it out …..

© 2019 Frazer Jones

GREEN LUNG ~ WOODLAND RITES .... review

South London's Green Lung return this year with not only a revised line-up but also a more expansive and spacious sound. After the release of the excellent "Free The Witch" EP the band, Tom Templar (vocals), Scott Black (guitar), Andrew Cave (bass) and Matt Wiseman (drums), realised in order to fully realise the sounds within their heads an extra component needed to be added to the mix and so the band invited organist John Wright in to add extra weight to their compositions, the results of which can be heard all over the bands latest release "Woodland Rites" (Kozmik Artifactz)

The sound of chirping birds and gently plucked acoustic guitars suddenly exploding into a maelstrom of heavy stonerized instrumental groove is the best way to describe opening track "Initiation", its swirling guitars, growling bass and pummelling drums concluding in a wall of screaming feedback while a short narrative tells us that "witchraft is dead and discredited", Almost immediately we are thrown into next track "Woodland Rites" a song that blends chugging proto-metallic riffage with strong vocal melodies, Templar's voice a perfect blend of sneering grittiness and melodic cleanliness. Next up is "Let The Devil In" and if you thought the title track was something special then this one is going to blow your socks clean into another dimension,. Beginning with a medieval tinted acoustic refrain and another short piece of sampled narrative the song suddenly explodes into a heavy but measured groove that utilises neo-classical and folk motifs to add an extra level of atmospheric occultism to proceedings, add into this equation a superbly executed vocal melody and you start to wonder can this album get any better. Well the answer to that is, it does, and "The Ritual Tree" proves it, a song that balances its heavy doomic bluster with sublime lysergic tenderness courtesy of Black's screaming, wailing  guitar solo's and Wright's swirling textured keys. "Templar Dawn" sees Green Lung exploring stoner doom territory with the vocals taking on a slightly more sinister tone over a thundering backdrop of grizzled bass and powerful percussion, expertly provided by Cave and Wiseman. "Call of the Coven" raises the tempo as well as the temperature while "May Queen" takes the dynamics in the opposite direction having an almost ballad-esque vibe and is blessed by some sterling lead work from Black. "Into The Wild" closes the album, a song that undulates between hazy psychedelics and smouldering occult rock, the song bringing to an end a very impressive debut from a very impressive band.

The term "occult rock" is one that causes a bit of confusion, at Desert Psychlist we tend to think of something tagged as "occult rock" as being grooves that although "doomic" are not what you could call full on "doom", grooves that share many of doom's characteristics but lean towards the more melodic and accessible end of the spectrum. Now you may not agree with our definition but whether you do or not does not take away the fact that "Woodland Rites" is a superb album that is both melodic AND accessible.
Check it out ….

© 2019 Frazer Jones