ALBUM REVIEW: The Skull, "The Endless Road Turns Dark"

By: Andrew Field

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/09/2018
Label: Tee Pee Records

When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before

‘The Endless Road Turns Dark’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Endless Road Turns Dark
2. Ravenswood
3. Breathing Underwater
4. The Longing
5. From Myself Depart
6. As the Sun Draws Near
7. All That Remains (Is True)
8. Thy Will Be Done

The Review:

The word “legend” is overused, but not in the case of Eric Wagner: the voice of Trouble, Blackfinger and The Skull for the last 30 years. One of doom’s most influential yet humble frontmen, Wagner is enjoying a creative purple patch at present. Earlier this year he reactivated Blackfingerand the resulting album was his most mature and confident release since leaving Troublein 2008.  If Blackfinger replaced the chug of Troublewith a more deliciously relaxed vibe (which was solid gold), then the new album by The Skullbrings back the barnstorming doom of the Chicagotitans he fronted for almost two decades.

From the first few notes of the title track – which opens the album – you’re in instantly familiar Wagner territory. Able Lieutenant and doom bass god Ron Holzner is still at his side, anchoring the bottom end with former Cathedral drummer Brian Dixon. Over their thunderous melee guitarists Lothar Keller and Rob Wrong trade solos and huge rhythmic slabs of riffage which churn and grind with wilful abandon. It’s one hell of a beautiful sound.Third track “Breathing Underwater” is an early highlight: funeral pace doom with a chorus built around a startling guitar motif which is guaranteed to give you goose bumps. “From Myself Departs” starts like nothing else in the band’s canon, with Holzer laying down a funk bassline over which a Hendrixian riff floats (bringing to mind Living Colour or Stevie Salas Colorcode) before the band slam back into a more comfortable sturm and drang groove and full-on ‘galloping horses’ bridge section which is the best thing on the record.

Elsewhere you get the standard slower number, “All That Remains (Is True)”, which shuffles wonderfully in 6/4 time, and a massive closing boogie in “Thy Will Be Done”. When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before. They haven’t thrown the baby out with the bath water. But they’ve bought a modern and quite wonderful new bath.

Wagner turns 60 next April. It’s great to hear him and his compadres growing old this disgracefully.  Long may they continue to do so.

“The Endless Road Turns Black” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: The Atomic Bitchwax - "Force Field"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 08/12/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records

"Force Field" is an album that punches you in the face from the moment is starts, and keeps up its unrelenting force until the album’s grand finale. The songs are short, they’re fast, and each one hits its chorus within 30 seconds. There are no frills, no bullshit, just straight up rock n’roll with attitude.

“Force Field” CD//DD//LP track listing:

01. Hippie Speedball
02. Earth Shaker (Which Doobie U Be)
03. Alaskan Thunder Fuck
04. Shocker
05. Crazy
06. Fried Dyed And Layin To The Side
07. Shell of a Man
08. Houndstooth
09. Tits and Bones
10. Humble Brag
11. Super Highway
12. Liv A Little

The Review:

When The Atomic Bitchwax got their start in the 90’s, they offered up the flip side of the coin to the West Coast’s Fu Manchu. Like the Fu, The Atomic Bitchwax also had punk roots, dirty guitars, hard drumming and a link to rock royalty. What sets these bands apart is mostly the themes in the lyrics. Fu Manchu sings about babes and cars, The Atomic Bitchwax spits lyrics about drugs and flying through space. Sure, this is a pretty blunt summation of both bands, but the bottom line is, The Atomic Bitchwaxappeals to the space-punkers. Their music is for those who want their Monster Magnet faster and their Fu Manchumore psychedelic. The Atomic Bitchwaxfills that void perfectly.

In layman’s terms, The Atomic Bitchwax is a stoner rock band. But as Monster Magnet continues their way back to their psychedelic beginnings and Fu Manchu gets heavier, The Atomic Bitchwax once again fills the void between these two and does so by dropping the “stoner” tag. The word “rock” is what remains, and that’s just what we need in these times of pigeonholing bands into genres that are so specific that there’s no fun left in the music.

On December 8, The Atomic Bitchwax are going to drop a belter of an album. It goes by the name “Force Field” and its one helluva rock album. It’s one that punches you in the face from the moment is starts, and keeps up its unrelenting force until the album’s grand finale. The songs are short, they’re fast, and each one hits its chorus within 30 seconds. There are no frills, no bullshit, just straight up rock n’roll with attitude.

Opener “Hippie Speedball” is a quick two-and-a-half minute glimpse of what the band is here to do; rock. Follow-up “Earth Shaker” does the same, and the increasing speed and intensity in the third song “Alaskan Thunder Fuck” nails down the band’s mission statement. The cuts are teeming with vocal harmonies, polished beyond belief but no less sharp and mean. And when Pantella pounds on his drums, you can hear him grinning with satisfaction. Kosnik and Finn are also grinning, no doubt about that, and this adds to the album’s presentation. The band is smug, they know they’re kicking ass and they know their licks are second nature. This is rock n' roll.

“Force Field”confirms the direction The Atomic Bitchwaxtook on 2015’s “Gravitron.” On “Force Field,” the New Jersey three-piece don’t do much more than open the flood gates and barrage the listener with hard-ass riffing and tight-ass rhythms. This happened in 2015 and it’s happening again now. Therefore, the simple conclusion is, if you dug “Gravitron,” you’ll love “Force Field.”

“Force Field”is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Ruby The Hatchet - "Planetary Space Child"

By: Joosep Nilk

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/08/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records

 

Dishing out psyched-out blast offs and danceable tunes all complemented by the vintage-sounding production and plenty of organ in-between, Ruby The Hatchet adds a further twist to their already suspensive sound. “Planetary Space Child” comes off sounding like a spaced out version of Uncle Acid and cements their place at the very top tier of heavy psych.

“Planetary Space Child“CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Planetary Space Child

2). Killer

3). Pagan Ritual

4). The Fool

5). Symphony of the Night

6). Gemini

7). Lightning Comes Again

The Review:

With an intro that would not be amiss on a Floyd album, “Planetary Space Child” opens with the dramatic title track and goes straight for the grandiose sweeps. With riffs alluding to the barren vastness depicted on the cover, along the uneasy undertones, the epic artwork of Adam Burke is another common trait to be found with fellow dread-mongerers Occultation. Whereas said group are perhaps slightly spookier, Rubybring a handful more of melody. Like the opening notes of ’Pagan Ritual’ that come off equally as stirring as they are ominous, another turn is waiting around the corner. The shrouded riffs build up and crank the anticipation until a funky break-down, maintaining the trepidation and not letting you get too comfortable, the only solid thing being the bass-lines that follow the track through to its finish.

While these change-ups are familiar from prior albums, the additional organ progressions unabashedly harken back to rock’s golden era and really complement the album concept. That stands especially true for ’Symphony of the Night’, undoubtedly one of the stronger songs the band has put to tape yet. It opens with pensive plucks and picks the pace up near the middle and as the gloominess is equally cranked up a notch, the well-placed keys constantly adorn the unrelenting gradations.

Despite the material’s emotional density, the band hasn’t forgone their penchant for some infectious feel-good tunes. Second track ’Killer’ reminds us they’re still capable of more than a bit of moog-tinged tomfoolery, likewise on the equally fast-paced midpoint that is “Gemini”. Whereas the former is a fairly straight-forward and fun band jam (awfully fitting when they presented it at Roadburn’s Cul de Sac), the latter never quite loosens its intense grip and brings the full-sounding guitars and psychedelic leads further up front, with the relentless drumming of Mike Parisekeeping it equally energetic and even-paced throughout. By the end they go near-prog with the keys straddled throughout amidst the influx of leads tearing straight into your headspace.

As is true for Jillian Taylor’s howls and moans that are at times wistful and bold on others, the created sound truly envelopes her voice well, especially so on the initially shuddersome “The Fool“ and the epic closer. The latter really runs the gamut on her whole range, beginning languid and solemn in near-ballad-form, almost timid by Ruby’sstandards, but opening up near the end, an approach the band has proven to work for them time and again. It’s no straight-forward doom here but all splendidly woven in, making the pay-off that much more worth it. The culminating build-up and shake-down really allows the organ to shine amidst the oscillation of guitars and comes off dangerous, duly paying reference to the song-title.

Dishing out psyched-out blast offs and danceable tunes all complemented by the vintage-sounding production and plenty of organ in-between, Ruby The Hatchet adds a further twist to their already suspensive sound. “Planetary Space Child” comes off sounding like a spaced out version of Uncle Acidand cements their place at the very top tier of heavy psych.

“Planetary Space Child” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Biblical - "The City That Always Sleeps"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/09/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records |

New Damage Records

“Mature Themes,” the opening track and lead-off single, certainly showcases a barrage of noise that hits like a barbed-wire baseball bat, but rather than making miles doing this sludgy-psych thing, Biblical branches out far and wide, traversing sonic landscapes that are as vast as the country the band calls home.

“The City That Always Sleeps” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Mature Themes
2. The Last Thing I Remember
3. Regicide
4. Fugue State
5. Gallows Humor
6. Spiral Staircase
7. The City that Always Sleeps
8. House of Knives

The Review

               

Come on, let’s take a trip down the heavy-psych highways with Biblical. Their trip starts in the dirty streets of Toronto, but it doesn’t take long until they’ve hit the off-ramp and flown out into space. “Mature Themes,” the opening track and lead-off single, certainly showcases a barrage of noise that hits like a barbed-wire baseball bat, but rather than making miles doing this sludgy-psych thing, Biblicalbranches out far and wide, traversing sonic landscapes that are as vast as the country the band calls home.

When taken in front to back, Biblical’s sophomore outing “The City that Always Sleeps” plays out as a crafted piece of art that steers clear of a paint-by-numbers psych band. Biblical allow their ideas to flourish in their songwriting, and the fantastic production and recording – man, listen to those drums! – makes for an extremely well-rounded record that smoothly brings the listener across the sludge-psych spectrum of the stoner rock world.

Some parts are psych, there are even elements borrowed from post-punk, others are sludgier, and the brash moments are used as points of reference to take off from. The addition of the piano in the instrumental “Staircase”brings a little drama to the mix, and how this is pinned up against an uplifting chorus before a giant crescendo finishes off the song that exemplifies how Biblical takes control of the experience they’re providing.

Steady toe-tappers, fuzzy guitar solos, murky intermezzos, and catchy space rock. It’s all there and it all makes sense. There’s not much in the way of jams – you know, that moment when the music takes control – but there’s enough thought and effort put into presenting a well-rounded record that the jams aren’t missing. There’s plenty more to get lost in here than what’s on offer in the album’s lead-off single and you’d be doing yourself a favor by taking 40-some-odd minutes out of your busy day and let these tunes pick you up and take you away.

“The City That Always Sleeps” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Death Alley - "Live At Roadburn"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 24/02/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records

“Live at Roadburn” depicts Death Alley as more than just a good live band that gets the crowd going. The record puts the band's best foot forward, and by allowing the listener to repeatedly dive into the jams and feel the chemistry, Death Alley’s talents as musicians get pushed to the fore.

“Live At Roadburn” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). It’s On

2). 666666

3). Feeding the Lions

4). Supernatural Predator

The Review:

Death Alley has been putting in so much time and so many miles since their 2015 ass-kickin’ debut album that they could easily pass as veterans of the scene. In these few short years, Death Alley toured the hell out of Europe, visited the Roadburn Festival twice (three times? four?), took a trip across the pond to visit both coasts of the United States, and most recently hit the road with some local heroes for a successful MotorheadTribute Tour. In case you missed any of that –though I’m not sure how you could have – have no fear because Death Alley is about to release “Live at Roadburn” on February 24^th and it’s a scorcher.

The main difference between seeing Death Alleyin a live setting and listening to its documentation on your couch at home is context. In person, you’ll knock back a couple of beers, get tossed around the pit and feel the band's sweat rain on the crowd. It’s a rock and roll extravaganza that you’ll share with those in attendance, all of whom have come out to the show to let loose of the daily grind and boogie down. I know, that’s usually the point of any rock show, but Death Alley is one of those bands that manages to open up a line of communication with everyone in the crowd, even those all the way in the back.

At home, however, the live documentation is a whole different kettle of fish. From the comfort of your couch, “Live at Roadburn”depicts Death Alley as more than just a good live band that gets the crowd going. The record puts the band's best foot forward, and by allowing the listener to repeatedly dive into the jams and feel the chemistry, Death Alley’stalents as musicians get pushed to the fore. A solo here, an unexpected fill there, a tight transition everywhere; no matter what, these guys are locked into their Death Alley trance. The word trance might be a strange adjective to apply to an upbeat rock band, but at 4 songs (one of which is a cover, two of which are new) and 44 minutes long, “Live at Roadburn” certainly lets the mind drift.

Opener “It’s On” starts with singer Douwe sarcastically asking the crowd “are you ready?” Fuck no, they’re not ready – not for what’s about to happen at least – but that doesn’t matter because the band sure is ready to bring it. The song’s midsection and back half are all about the guitars, which blend nicely into the eight-plus minute instrumental cut that shows why Death Alley brought along their friends Ron van Herpen (Astrosoniq) and Jevin de Groot (Múhr) along for the ride. A 22 minute version of “Supernatural Predator” follows, demanding as much attention as it does on the album, but it’s the “Feeding the Lions” that has the band looking forward. This song, with its rolling rhythm and a pissed off Douwe in your face, is a great way to both close a set and get the fans excited for the come-on-get-to-it already sophomore record.

A good live album is something that’s hard to come by. In order for such an album to hit the mark, the band in question needs to be on fire the night of the recording. Everyone needs to be locked in, the energy needs to feel right, and most of all, someone needs to record the set in such a way that it translates well to an in-house hi-fi set. If that’s what you’re looking for in a live album, then do yourself a favor and track down a copy of Death Alley’s“Live at Roadburn.”

“Live At Roadburn” is available to preorder/buy here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Lecherous Gaze - "One Fifteen"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/2/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records

 

..if it’s a rough and tumble slab of catchy punk rock that you’re in for, be sure to get your ass down to the train station to catch the “One Fifteen.”

 

“One Fifteen” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.) One Fifteen
2.) Reptile Minds
3.) Cosmos Redshift 7
4.) Thing Within
5.) The Day the Earth Caught Fire
6.) Dark Nebula
7.) Malevolent Shroud
8.) Blind Swordsman
9.) X City

The Review:

Imagine what would happen if Howlin’ Wolf grew up in the 80s, spent his time jamming The Ramones and getting fucked up on anything that came his way. If such prospect tickles your curiosity, then by all means, jump on board the “One Fifteen” train, Lecherous Gaze’s new album.

There are a number of remarkable things that Lecherous Gazehas going for them. First off, the guitars. Man, those guitars! The main man behind the licks goes by the name Graham Clise and he’s accompanied on second guitar by Zach Dellorto-Blackwell. The way these two fly up and down the fret board, switching effortlessly from frenetic riffing to frenetic soloing, makes for one impressive axe-slinging show. Take the album’s closing cut “X City” as an example of this. The front end is a riff-filled party rocker that longs for the days of driving around in a Rocket 88, only to close out with one of the best guitar solos we’re going to hear all year. Guaranteed.

As is the case with guitar rock, the songs would be nothing without a steady rhythm section to back up the riffs. And that’s where Chris Grande (bass) and Noel Sullivan (drums) come into play. Their get up and get ‘em attitude saturates songs like “Reptile Minds” and the five minute extravaganza, “Thing Within,” with a steady, head on delivery, which opens up the playing field for Clise and Dellorto-Blackwell to dance around how they please. The interplay between these guys is aggressive when it needs to be and precise if that’s what the song calls for, all the while keeping just as much sleaze as accessibility in the songs.

And then there’s the Lecherous Gaze trademark, singer Zaryan Zaidi. A formidable front man to boot; one to be both scared of and impressed by. Shredding his vocal chords in the process, Zaidi barks and snarls his way through these nine cuts with both joy and frustration. Lecherous Gazeis a punk rock band, after all, despite all that tasty, groovy riffing. So there’s just as much room to make a statement as there is to have a damn good time.

So if it’s a rough and tumble slab of catchy punk rock that you’re in for, be sure to get your ass down to the train station to catch the “One Fifteen.”

“One Fifteen” is available to buy/preorder here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp