Occult Vibe Haven (OVH)
I don’t know what’s in the water down there, but GOATFATHER sounds like they’ve been breathing exhaust fumes for breakfast again. Their third album, House of the Rising Smoke, comes out this October and, to be honest, it’s probably their most “them” record yet. If you’ve heard Monster Truck you’ll get the idea, but this […]
No intro, no warning, just fuzz and lift-off. Feels like HOWLING GIANT finally got the mics pointed in the right direction – real air moving, not that boxy home stuff. You can hear the sticks hit, the amps breathe, somebody probably yelling off-mic. Good sign! HOWLING GIANT are still a heavy, fuzzy, psych-tinged rock band, […]
There’s a point where riffs stop sounding like you’re trying and start sounding like you just are. Solar Sons hit that somewhere along the line. You can hear it all over Altitude, their sixth record, tracked fast in some cold room called Nameless City Sound. Eight days. Probably smelled of coffee and warm valve amps. […]
Some records hit you in the gut. Others in the teeth. This Side of the Dirt does both. First note drops and you feel it in your ribcage, like a van rolling over your spine. Dusted Angel didn’t come back to make a point – they came back because they couldn’t not. Fifteen years since […]
Danakil Heat don’t really sound like a new band anymore. There’s too much dirt in the gears for that. Doomsday Delight comes on quick – three tracks, no time to stretch – and still manages to feel bigger than it is. The fuzz hits first, that thick Helsinki tone, half-garage, half-machine. It doesn’t wait around […]
You can tell right away BREATH aren’t trying to make “songs”. Brahman sounds like they’re summoning something – slow, old, and not entirely friendly, but not evil either. It’s that big middle space between calm and collapse. Everything feels stretched out and deliberate, like they’re chasing the space inside the sound, not the sound itself. […]
It’s been four years since Two of Swords, and Bentrees finally drop Silver Veins. Six tracks, no filler, no showing off – just that thick, hypnotic low-end fuzz they’ve been hammering since the early days. Recorded at Sonusville Studio in Siliqua, it sounds like it – earthy, not overproduced, just real instruments in a room, […]
Stone Machine Electric don’t play songs so much as drop you inside them. Faces is six slabs of slow-burn hypnosis, the kind of record that doesn’t hurry to prove a damn thing. These Texans have been circling the underground for years, and you can hear the road miles baked into every stretch of feedback and […]
The first note hits, and the room smells of damp wood and a faint electric hum. Faces creeps in slowly, sticky in the air, settling into corners before you even notice. Zombie Eater have spent years in Helsinki basements and German backrooms, and you can hear the floors sagging under the weight, the lights flickering, […]
I came to Imperfection with a bit of caution, not because I doubted HEBI KATANA, but because after three albums of raw, sticky Tokyo doom, you start wondering how much more weight a trio can carry without spilling over into overkill. What hits first is how completely they don’t care about that question. The riffs […]