Aluk Todolo conjures rabid obsessive rhythms and abyssal disharmonic guitars, subliminal spiritualist vibrations and bizarre, magick summonings.
Aluk Todolo’s “Occult Rock” is wonderfully thought provoking, always enthralling, and trance inducing, so they achieve exactly what they set out to create. You can read, work, relax, or run to this music, and it really would fit the scene just fine.
“For better and worse, audacity is an essential aspect of Aluk Todolo. After all, for the bulk of the last decade, the French trio of black metal veterans has attempted an unwieldy mission– to set the dark sounds of their past to the typically kaleidoscopic expanses of krautrock. That task actually seems feasible for a band with enough gumption to lift its name from an ancient, ritualistic religion practiced by a third of the people in a mountainous region of Indonesia, or an act that insists its music is a way to leave he world behind. “The requested conditions to play our music,” drummer Antoine Hadjioannou said in a 2007 interview, “is to get in a trance and forget everything… when the musician finally disappears behind the forces he does summon.” – Pitchfork
One man project Lussuria form the US East Coast is at home in a cursed place. A bombed out city that echoes Italian Horror-Soundtracks from the 70s.
“Seamless sound collage taking you through all the various rooms in the house. While blindfolded you reach for things familiar but everything feels different in the dark.”
Formed by drummer Rafa Martinez (ex-16, ex-Acid King) and guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian (ex-Cavity), Black Cobra catapulted themselves onto the scene in 2001 with their ravenous, upbeat and ultimately unique style of punk/hardcore-fueled sludge metal.
Black Cobra´s almighty fourth full-length album, “Invernal” is their most honed and diversified material to date, and will tear your face off completely.
Recorded at Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou’s God City Studio, the album propelled the most diversified and matured songwriting from the duo to date forward with incredibly thunderous production, the theme to the entire record based on a post-apocalyptic trek to a nuclear infested and mutated Antarctica, inspired in part by the treks of English researcher Ernest Shackleton. The band perpetually toured through the years surpassing their 600th show mark in 2012 since the release of their debut LP Bestial in 2006.
In the great Canadian spirit of loss and heart ache, the downer foursome known as BISON b.c. have managed to scourge their rotting brains desperately puking out new psalms of suffering.
From the west coast melting pot of shit and failure; in a country based on terrifying distance and lonesome, stoic suffering comes Lovelessness; not portraying the death of love or the lack of the same. Rather it attempts to map out the pathetic and desperate pursuit of love, which in itself becomes violent like a cancer, an assault on anything that is good in the world. A heartfelt repulsion towards anything that could bring pleasure, because with happiness we suffer truly – the wanting of more. Gluttons! Pigs to the trough! Lead us to treachery! Lead us to solitude!
Årabrot is a Norwegian noise-rock band from Haugesund, Norway.Since starting out in 2001, Årabrot’s main core has been Kjetil Nernes (songwriter, guitar and vocals) and Vidar Evensen (drums and visuals), and in recent years noise artist Stian Skagen has been a regular on-and-off member of the band. Collaborating with producers such as Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis), Emil Nikolaisen (Serena Maneesh) and Steve Albini (Nirvana, High on Fire) the band has released three full-length albums and a grotesque bouquet of singles and EPs.
Årabrot is about to represent for this generation what the sum of Melvins, Birthday Party and Swans was to the generation before them; a source of pleasure from both auditory and moral excesses. The band’s foundation is noise-rock, but has strong elements of industrial music and noise.
In Årabrot there is also a dramatic component few other bands in history possess: histories are told and emotions are laid out in a way that’s closer to the compositional techniques of experimental film and theatre than traditional song structure. Last but not least they are drawn to the lyrics that combine elements of two of the most stimulating works of human kind: The Bible and Pornography.
Asteroid is doing what they do best and that means fuzzed out psychedelic space rock, combined with exceptional songwriting that brings out their dual vocals to the maximum. Asteroid is by many considered to be one of the top Swedish rock acts today and this statement has never been more true than it is right now.
Parasol Caravan crank their amps up to 11 and play heavy rock with stoner and psychedelic elements. They are a dirty soundbastard between Black Stone Cherry and Kyuss with never ending groove, fat guitar riffs that have no mercy with your neck and incredible whiskey soaked vocals that get under your skin.
Since the end of 2009 the four piece is rocking as many stages as possible and honoring their idols of the past without losing touch with the modern rock scene.
The TV Buddhas, currently based in Germany, but originally from Tel Aviv, have been playing their own blend of alienation drenched garage-punk for the past five years, first as a duo and later as a trio. Their music is reminiscent of The Wipers and Dead Moon, with a heavier, Stoner guitar sound, and minimalistic drumming played on a stripped down kit. The band consists of husband and wife Juval Haring and Mickey Triest, and sibling Uri Triest.
Since leaving Israel in 2007 they have released numerous tour CDRs and cassettes, 2 LPs, an EP and a 7 inch record on both the Austrian label Trost, and the German label Staatsakt, all in the midst of intensive touring, sometimes playing over 200 shows a year.
Their latest offering “Band In The Modern World” features five new songs, oozing with Wipers/Husker Du influenced overdrive. The EP was recorded in just less than an hour on their last winter tour in Europe, in a small studio in the city of Graz, and was later mixed by Steve Fisk, who produced the Beat Happening and worked with the likes of Nirvana.
The EP will be released by TROST Records, of Vienna
Robotra is a three-piece lo-fi indie rock band from Austria. They create delightful melodies, just to bury them under tons of distortion and fuzz, guitar and bass effects.
Miami has earned its fair share of notoriety over the last 30 years, but most of it has been nothing to brag about: The Liberty City Riots, the Mariel Boatlift, and the Cocaine Wars of the early 1980s recast the formerly sleepy beach town/retirement colony as a lawless urban hellscape crowded with pimps, powder queens and cutthroats, where liquor-store shootouts, revenge bombings and police corruption threatened to drown the tourist trade in an ocean of blood, booze, and yayo. But now the peace-loving citizens of Miami finally have something they can hoist high as an enduring emblem of cultural and civic pride (besides KC & the Sunshine Band, Gloria Estefan and 2 Live Crew, obviously) …
Enter Torche, the four-pronged Floridian Riff Colossus that has steamrolled its way across the international underground. Their blissed-out power-grooves, triumphant vocal harmonies and cosmic resonance within is variously hailed as “stoner pop,” “thunder rock,” and “doom pop”.
“Never let it be said that bong-rock types hate hooks,” Spin magazine announced. “Torche set their guitars on ‘dirge,’ work their vocal harmonies, and say amen to Foo Fighters’ riff-o-matic preaching.”
“At long last, we know what life would be like in a parallel universe where the Melvins became a pop sensation instead of Nirvana,” Revolver magazine added.
Their latest full length Album Harmonicraft isi Torche in their most unfiltered form and the result is a collection of songs that prove that heavy music can be progressive without being predictable. From the relentless groove, the melodic grandeur and sinister syncopation of Harmonicraft stretches toward the sonic stratosphere and illustrates that the band are growing tighter and more powerful with each passing release.
Prototyper are 100% Rock (1% Stoner/Sludge/Doom; 99% badass).
Right from the beginning Prototyper did their own thing, without aiming for any particular genre … just with one goal in mind: to blow your heads off with big guitar riffs, mighty drums, thundering bass and gnarly vocals on top of it all. Keeping an eye on the dynamics, they may also include some calmer and moody moments for good measure, if a song needs just that.If you must put a label on it … let’s call it … Rock. It’s raw, heavy, loud and sleazy … everything you want in trusty old Rock’n’Roll, right?
Prototyper released their first (self-titled) EP in 2012, which earned them support-slots for well-respected international bands like Crowbar, Karma to Burn and Been Obscene.
They are currently working on their first full-length album and playing shows whenever they can.
Morkobot is a totally suggestive instrumental sonic monster.
A magmatic and liquid atmosphere lead the listener to a psychedelic and caotic world in which vibrations become dense like glue, light and darkness are continuosly turning in a nonstop changing lysergic noise: moments of raw power suddenly replace those with softer, deliberate arrangements, and viceversa.
After the previous one track album Morto, Morbo (latin for disease) consists of seven cacophonous songs in which the psychedelic attitude of the first Trilogy (Morkobot – Mostro – Morto albums) is dried to expose the bones and nerves of a more intricate, but at the same time more straightforward and focused music, skilfully assembled by the two bass guitars and drum-kit.
The result is a raw yet complex low-end sound, interesting to hear as the spectrum of it becomes pure and essential so that Morbo will modify quickly the way You’re used to hear music…
NAPLAVA … a very effective & bass-heavy band influenced by musical styles such as Stoner, Doom, Drone, Pop etc…and yet another indicator that Vienna´s music scene is alive and ready to kick some ass!
Keeping it loose, keeping it structured enough to be able to trail off the path only to gain control again only to lose control & so on & so forth…
Hailing from San Diego, California with former members of the rockin’ Rocket From The Crypt, Black Heart Procession and Nebula and a guy from Tony Alva’s skate team, Earthless is the cream of the psychedelic rock crop.
Amalgamating a love of Black Sabbath’s fuzzy, ominous proto-metal, Blue Cheer’s gritty drive and Jimi Hendrix’s penchant for drawn-out jams steeped in blues riffing, Earthless delivers the stuff only altered states of consciousness can realise.
New Jersey’s Chris Kosnik, Finn Ryan, and Bob Pantella first started plotting their musical careers back in the mid 90s influenced by 70s rock and progressive groups ranging from Black Sabbath to Parliament Funkadelic. Simultaneously all three members where already playing for major labels in separate bands: Godspeed (Atlantic), Monster Magnet (A&M) and Core (Atlantic). The Atomic Bitchwax slowly evolved for 15 years as a players band with the enduring vision to “play what you want”.
Their fifth full length Album will be released in Summer 2013 via Tee Pee Records.
Influenced by such 70’s legends as Hawkwind, Deep Purple, UFO, Blue Oyster Cult, Captain Beyond, the rockier sides of more recent outfits such as Motorpsycho and Swervedriver, as well as the best of the current heavy bands, Mirror Queen aspire towards psychedelic hard rock of the highest order.
Together they transcend the sameness of much of today’s stoner scene, blasting the audience by including songs with the volume and adding hooks to the timeless riffs.
It seems fitting, upon listening to Pelican‘s music, that the band hails from Chicago. When Tortoise and their contemporaries ushered in a new wave of instrumental music over a decade ago it was a pastiche of genre-defying sound, simultaneously cohesive and expansive in influence. Similarly, Pelican’s songs touch on so much from the canon of rock music.
When the quartet’s first full length, Australasia, came out in late 2003, it was an experiment in crushing heaviness, albeit melodic and compositionally complex that set them apart from their contemporaries. The songs excelled in exploring layers: where there were glacier-thick walls of guitars, there were also shifts and nuances that gave the songs room to breathe. These nuances became even more pronounced on Pelican’s 2005 sophomore album, The Fire in our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. Pegged early on as a “metal” band, it was with this second full length that it became apparent that this label was an oversimplification as the group had more in common with Slint and Hum than Slayer. With 2007’s City of Echoes yet another step in Pelican’s evolution was unveiled. This new album showcased urgency, more twists and unexpected turns; songs with more of a lyrical feel.
The band’s disparate influences were presented with increasing clarity as guitar dynamics and rhythmic interplay came out from behind the wall of sound that were evident on previous recordings. With shorter songs and a pronounced live feel, City of Echoes was an ode to the road: a musical manifesto to pile into a van and travel for months at a time—something they had done relentlessly.
Ephemeral, a three-song teaser EP released in early 2009, paved the way for the new full length. Trevor de Brauw reckons the band was once again at the mercy of “the riff” … how Pelican could be more riff-oriented than they had evidenced on each of their previous albums is hard to imagine, but it should be noted that Dylan Carlson, of Earth fame, lent the band a hand in re-creating an Earth song from their first 7”. And that speaks volumes as to what those “riffs” would continue to be like … beautifully heavy.
2012 saw Pelican´s long-awaited return with the release of “Ataraxia/Taraxis”
“The four new songs highlight the manifold sonic strengths of the band by delving into moments of triumphant melodic rock, smokey doom, ambient soundscape, acoustic desert-folk, and minimalist electronics. In contrast to the EP’s origin as the product of four different recording studios, including stints with engineers Sanford Parker (Twilight, Yob, Nachtmystium) and Aaron Harris (ISIS), the carefully crafted track listing boasts a cohesive narrative flow, lending the release a truly epic feel, worthy of a full album.”
Mouth of the Architect formed in 2003. About a million member changes later our current lineup is Steve Brooks (guitar, vox), Jason Watkins (keys, vox), Dave Mann (drums), Kevin Schindel (guitar, vox), Evan Danielson (bass). The band is celebrating 10 years of making music and releasing a new full length record, “Dawning,” this year.
Easily in the same league as Isis and Cult Of Luna, Mouth of the Architect have developed a beast of a sound. Their beautiful and frightening powerful riffs break down and give way to chaos.
A powerhouse of a band, Mouth of the Architect have crafted a musical work that is highly diverse and expressive. With their great sense of dynamics and an ability to express emotion that exceeds many of their contemporaries.
Free improvisation meets spontaneously created song structures, producing a range of expression that extends from minimalistic duos, to an explosive machine of noise. The band is constantly in movement, seething, steaming, hissing and screaming, open for all kinds of inspiration. Arktis/Air´s music is reminiscent of free-jazz, but at times presented in the style of a rock-band.
Epic and haunting 70′s tinged Doom the Jex Thoth way, meaning you have never heard anything like this before. Down tuned guitars with a strong leaning towards late-60ies-psychedelia mingle with Jex Thoth’s clear, divine vocals.
Unlike the army of Retro-Occult-Rock in the ascendent, Jex Thoth don´t have to rely on a flashy blood-harvest / devil-worship – gimmick to deliver with devastating effect.
Jex Thoth are openly nostalgic without being sentimental or trite. The band’s biggest strengths are the haunting vocals of Jex and avoiding the usual trap of carbon copying its predecessors.
photo: Katharina / Psychorizon
The follow up full length to 2007´s self titled Album, one of the strongest doom metal releases of the past decade, is calles “Blood Moon Rise” and will be available on tour.
Doomina was formed in 2006. After a demo and 2 EPs, their Debut LP “Elsewhere” was recently released on vinyl.
Bluring the genre-restrictions of post rock and sludge, Doomina are creating soundscapes on a grand scheme. Keep an eye and ear on these Southern Austrians, since they´re destined for great things…
The Melvins have done a shit load of albums…. How many is a shit load? No one really knows.
The Melvins have four members. King Buzzo… Longest surviving and only original member left. When they get around to replacing him there will be no original members!
Dale Crover… Long standing drummer and part time guitar player. Dale likes his booze in a High Ball glass.
Jared Warren… Bass player, singer and part time drama geek. Jared also plays in the band Big Business.
Coady Willis… Drummer. Coady has a funny story about trying to play a gig in leather pants. Ask him, it’s funny as shit! Coady also plays drums in Big Business.
This spring will teach us all a lesson in Classic Album-touring.
On 2 days we will get to witness the worship of no less than 5 of rock ´n roll´s undisputed, timeless classics.
Day 1:
LYSOL
EGGNOG
HOUDINI
Day 2:
BULLHEAD
STONER WITCH
Warm Up DJ Line will be provided by Kid Raffeet & Roadtripper on Day 1 and Nitrox on Day 2
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