SUNNATA - CHASING SHADOWS ..... review

Desert Psychlist's ongoing love affair with the Polish underground scene is no secret in fact we will often dub something released by a band/artist from outside of Poland, whose music blends high levels of intensity and complexity with earth shaking heaviness, as having a "Polish flavour" Today we have no need to use that tag as the album we are reviewing today comes straight from the source. Sunnata, Szymon Ewertowski (guitar/vocals); Adrian Gadomski (guitar/vocals); Michal Dobrzanski (bass guitar) and Robert Ruszczyk (drums/percussion), hail from Warsaw and have since their 2014 debut "Climbing the Colossus" quickly evolved from being new boys on the block to being one of those bands whose albums are purchased unheard based just on the bands reputation. Sunnata have just released their fifth album "Chasing Shadows" and if you are one of those who threw your money at it before hearing a single note believe us when we say that you have spent your money wisely.

 If the deeply atmospheric opening number "Chimera" does not make you feel like you have stumbled into a hidden temple where some deeply religious ritual is being acted out then you really need to get your chakras realigned, its initial mantra like chants and eastern flavoured motifs, slowly evolving into a dervish like whirl of heaviness evokes images in the minds eye not too dissimilar to those portrayed in the temple scenes of the movie "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". Alt-metal/grunge has always been an element Sunnata have had no problem incorporating into their music and for next song "Torn" Sunnata bring that element of their sound to the fore, the band utilising not only the genres quiet/loud/quiet dynamics, slurred guitar tones and off-kilter vocal harmonies but also that grainy slightly murky vibe that has long been associated with the genre, albeit here possessing a more doomic and dank undercurrent. In Sunnata's world atmosphere is king and the king is in full attendance for the beautiful but brief "At Dusk (Interlude)" a delicious mood piece built around shimmering guitar arpeggios and sparse but effective bass. The following two songs "Wishbone" and "Saviours Raft"  are at totally different ends of  the heavy spectrum with the former a shamanic flavoured doomic romp and the latter an off-centred blend of textured post-metal, caustic heavy sludge and grungy doom. Next is "Adrift (Reprise)" a very short but highly enjoyable interlude piece with an Alice In Chains like flavour which is quickly followed by "Tide"  a song that could easily be considered a sister piece to opening number "Chimera" if it were not for its more wordy lyrical content, its use of percussion to create a sound not unlike that of dripping water is a stroke of genius. A mix of chiming and surf like guitar tones twinned with a groove that is partly tribal and partly indie/gothic gives next track "Hungry" a weirdly post-punk(ish) feel especially when combined with the semi-goth flavoured vocals that decorate it. "Through the Abyss (Interlude)", another heavily atmospheric mood piece, gives us just enough time to catch our breaths before Sunnata snatch them away again with the excellent "The Sleeper" a song that shifts from sinister and menacing to manic and raging in a very short space of time, the middle section connecting these emotions an unsettling and mind-frying wall of droning guitar textures. Final track "Like cogs in a wheel, we're trapped between waves of distorted time"  sees Sunnata closing out with an instrumental that feels like an extension of all the ideas the band have previously visited on the albums various interludes, a throbbing, sometimes shimmering, piece that comes over like a mix of early The Cure goth and British trip-hop, wonderfully weird and strangely hypnotic.

Devotees of Sunnata will already know that the band music does not fall easily into a category, the sound these guys make together is a carefully considered blend of everything from extreme heaviness to eastern exotica that touches on a myriad of other elements in between. The bands new album "Chasing Shadows" follows much the same path as the albums that proceeded it but yet at at the same time is different and that difference comes down the more expansive nature of its songs. Define "expansive" we hear you ask, its a good question and the answer is a simple one, and that answer is everything you have loved about the bands previous work, the broad soundscapes the heaviness and the feeling of shamanic spirituality are all here but so much broader, heavier and more spiritual.

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

SUN MOON HOLY CULT ~ SUN MOON HOLY CULT .... review

Church of Misery, Boris, Eternal Elysium, Bahboon, Hebi Katana, the list of Japanese doom and stoner orientated bands gracing Desert Psychlist's music collection is growing and today we get to add another to that list in the shape of Tokyo's Sun Moon Holy Cult an outfit who number among their influences, along with the given Black Sabbath, Witchfinder General, Acid King and Belzebong. The band are no copyists however, they use their influences to forge their own sound, a sound that is rooted in stoner doom but not restricted by it, the band using the slow low and heavy dynamics of the genre as a platform from which to launch off into cosmic, acid drenched jams helped along the way by unique and distinctive vocals, all of which you will discover for yourselves via their self-titled debut "Sun Moon Holy Cult"

Things start of impressively heavy with "I Cut Your Throat" its opening salvo of crunching riffage, cellar level bass and thundering drums suggesting a more proto-dynamic until that is the vocals come in and things drop down into a more sedate pace with the vocalist telling us in mournful accented tones that she would like to "make a wish and cut your throat". The second half of the song sees the band flexing their muscles on a deliciously scuzzed out proto-doom jam that sees keyboards and guitars vying for dominance over a backdrop of pummelling percussion and growling bass. "Savoordoom" takes the doomic acidity of the previous songs second half and raises it up a notch or three this time accompanied by a monotonic mantra like vocal that we can only assume is sang in the bands native tongue, the band taking things to an even loftier level of acidic doomic dankness after those vocals subside. Third song  "Mystic River" has a more traditional rock feel to it, still residing very much in the doom canon but with more melodic vocals and a tight four to the floor feel, a feel enhanced by some nice guitar hooks and bluesy solos. Sun Moon Holy Cult bring things to a close with "Out of the Dark" a song that sees the band putting all their dooms in one basket, toying with aspects of proto, stoner and traditional doom while still retaining that acid/scuzz element that has informed all the albums previous songs up until this point and even getting a little funky in places.

Unique and untamed vocals fronting unique and untamed doom is the best way to describe what you will hear when spinning Sun Moon Holy Cult's self-titled debut, it is not a perfect album by any means but perfection is often a breeding ground for blandness and sterility and you won't find either on this album.

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

MARAGDA ~ TYRANTS .... review

Spain's Maragda are a bit of an enigma, the band, Marçal Itarte (bass/vocals); Guilem Tora (guitar/backing vocals) and Xavi Pasqual (drums), jam a groove that does not quite fit into any of the usual boxes we at Desert Psychlist tend to fall back on when attempting to describe music to our readers. The bands sound is at times heavy and blustering, it is sometimes complex and convoluted and on occasions it wanders into areas that could be described as commercial and pop-like. Alternative is a term we guess fits Maragda's music the best but then "alternative" these days is associated with grunge and Maragda's music is certainly not what you could consider "grungy". The words that come most to mind while listening to the bands stunning new album "Tyrants" (Spinda Records) are uplifting, bright and fresh, words not often seen on a site like Desert Psychlist where dankness and darkness are usually king, but they are the words we are going to stand by in regard to this peach of an album.

Opening/title track "Tyrants" opens with heavy prog like flourishes then settles down into a space-like gallop over which melodic lead vocals trade off with lilting harmonies. The musicianship here is other level with Tora and Pasqual laying down a barrage of infectious groove for Itarte to decorate with an array of crunchy and swirly guitar work. Itarte introduces next track "Skirmish" with effect drenched guitar before the rest of the band come in on a stoner(ish) groove in support of the vocals which are again melodic and lilting. "Endless" follows and begins quaint, fragile and easy on the ear but then shits up a gear into a juddering, stuttering hard rock romp that routinely goes off piste into unexpected territories. Those of advanced years may hear elements of bands like The Byrds and early Yes in the vocals that decorate "My Only Link" while those of more tender years might make comparisons with some of the less blackened and more accessible elements of Chicago's Huntsmen, whether you are in the former camp or the latter there is no denying the infectiousness of this song and the feelings of joie de vivre its groove evokes. If it were not for its bubbling guitar effects and occasional dives into psychedelic mayhem then next track "Sunset Room" would make a quite acceptable pop song while "The Singing Mountain" with its off centred musical structures and moments of vocal weirdness, although sounding very good to our ears, is anything but radio friendly. "Godspeed" is a slice of  feel good rock'n'roll with a great vocal melody, stinging guitar solos and groove easy to tap a foot to that leads us nicely into final number "Loose" a song that in its initial stages boasts a slight country/Americana feel that is again not dissimilar to the aforementioned Huntsmen in their lighter moments. It has to be said that the vocals throughout this album have been exceptional but it is the instrumental middle section and closing jam that wins the day on this song, Pasqual and Tora anchoring things to the ground with industrious drumming and bouncy low bubbling bass while Itarte splits the skies asunder with fractured chord voicings and soaring solos, a truly mind blowing finale to truly exceptional album.

Maragda's "Tyrants" is a product of outstanding musicianship and a true understanding of melody, it is an album of music that lightly touches base with prog, stoner rock and metal but also owes a debt to garage rock, early psych and pop, an album that is more "uplifting" than a hot air balloon, "brighter" than a sunbeam and "fresher" than a sea breeze.

Check it out ....

 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

SPACESLUG ~ OUT OF WATER .... review

Poland's Spaceslug, Bartosz Janik (guitars/vocals); Jan Rutka (bass/vocals) and Kamil Ziółkowski (drums/vocals), have not put a foot wrong since the release of their debut  album "Lemanis", they are one of those rare bands who constantly deliver whether it be a full album, a one off track ("Event Horizon") or an appearance on a split album ("4 Way Split"). This year (2024) that delivery takes the form of an EP going by the name of "Out of Water" (Electric Witch Mountain Recordings), a release that sees Spaceslug cementing their place in the upper echelon of the Polish underground alongside artists like Dopelord, Weedpecker and Sunnata.

The opening song "Tears Of Antimatter" showcases Spaceslug's subtler take on heaviness, balancing crushing segments with moments of languor and restraint both musically and vocally with the songs thought-provoking lyrics delivered in a blend of guttural harshness and smooth melodic harmonies that are quite different in texture from other bands utilizing those same vocal dynamics. Janik's resonant circular guitar refrains are the force driving following track "Arise The Sun" merging with Rutka's deep rumbling bass lines and Ziółkowski's solid tight and busy drumming to create an atmosphere that is both dense and expansive, an atmospheric further enhanced by those superbly crafted vocal harmonies mentioned earlier and the outstanding musicianship of each of the participants involved.. Title track "Out Of Water" finds Janik utilizing his pedal board to add a fittingly liquid tone to his guitar work which is supported by Rutka and Ziółkowski laying down a solid tight bass and drum groove, a groove once again topped by a delicate mix of wafting lead and lilting vocal harmonies. "Delusions" sees Spaceslug jamming a more intense sound that, despite also featuring a delicious lysergic tinted middle section, is characterized by its crunchier guitar tones and more thunderous drumming. Final song "In Serenity" boasts an undulating dynamic, a dynamic that is at times soaring and uplifting at others melancholic and introspective, its cleverly arranged and superbly executed vocal interplay taking its overall sonic impact to a whole other level of enjoyable..

Polish underground bands are known world wide for delivering off the scale levels of intensity, complexity and heaviness and Spaceslug are no shrinking violets in those departments, however the complexity, intensity and heaviness Spaceslug bring to the table with "Out Of Water" is of the measured variety, there is a deftness of touch to the heaviness on this album that does not so much pin you to the wall as invite you to stand against that wall and allow the music to flow over you.

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones

SUNFACE - CLOUD CASTLES .... review

Most of us inhabiting this underground rock community will have albums in our collections that come from a more languid and lysergic place, we are talking here bands like Sungrazer, Causa Sui, My Brother the Wind and of course Colour Haze, outfits that could, if the mood took them, get heavy but also had that expansive, almost cosmic, thing going on as well. What seems like an age ago Desert Psychlist came across a band who fitted the above criteria perfectly, a Norwegian combo going by the name Sunface who in 2016 released their debut album "Observatory", an album we called on these very pages a collection of "intriguing soundscapes that are sometimes a little bleak and disturbing but always interesting". We fervently hoped that "Observatory" was going to be the start of a whole slew of albums from the band as we were very interested in where they might take their music next. Unfortunately that did not happen and so we assumed that the band had fallen into that huge void that seems to swallow up so many bands. We assumed wrong, a few weeks ago we got a message from the band informing us that Sunface were, eight years later, about to release a new album, "Cloud Castles" (Apollon Records), and would we be interested in reviewing it, one listen to the attached stream and we were hooked and so to cut a long story short here's the review..

Sunface's debut "Observatory" featured a drummer however "Cloud Castles" does not, well not in the traditional rock sense, what we have here is Afro/Latin percussion played with hands rather than with sticks and the difference it makes to the bands sound is immense. The occasional bleakness found in the bands debut is still in place but those rhythms playing underneath add an air of upbeat brightness to the proceedings that was not so much lacking on the bands debut as just a little less prominent. Putting together guitars with traditional percussion is nothing very new in rock music, Santana made a career out of it as (to some extent) did Marc Bolan's T.Rex, but in music sitting at the underground end of the rock spectrum we cannot think of too many who have taken the same path. While we are on the subject of guitars we should tell you that the guitar tones to be found here are sublime, chord progressions, riffs, arpeggios and solo's are all delivered with the deftest of touches, on the albums heavier sections the guitar work resembling a quiet rather than a raging storm. The albums vocals are none too shabby either they serve as the perfect match to the guitar work, warm smooth and creamy tones that give songs like "Tall Trees". "Violet Ponds" and "Green Fields and Familiar Faces" a honeyed haziness not usually associated with music of a more stoner(ish) persuasion. It is however the Afro/Latin percussion that is the beating heart of "Cloud Castles" it does not just support the guitar work and the vocals it sits on an equal footing with them, the tribal flavoured percussive work is all over opening title track "Cloud Castles" and the song would not be the same without it, and the blistering power that this percussion delivers behind songs like "Thunder Era" and "...Through the Snow and Beyond" is as impactful as anything you might hear being laid down by a more traditional rock drummer sat behind a full kit.

If  you have a taste for the kind of lysergic heaviness supplied by those bands we mentioned in the opening piece of this review but wonder what that heavy hazy cosmicness might sound like backed by tribal percussion then Sunface's "Cloud Castles" is going to answer all your questions.

Check it out .... .

© 2024 Frazer Jones

RED MESA ~ PARTIAL DISTORTIONS .... review

If you were a purchaser/listener of Red Mesa's previous album, "The Path to the Deathless", you will remember that the core trio of Brad Frye (guitar/vocals); Roman Barham (drums/vocals) and Alex Cantwell (bass/vocals'/additional guitar) were joined by slew of guest musicians, the most notable being Wino and the late Dave Sherman, however their new release "Partial Distortions" (Desert Records/Majestic Mountain Records) is all Red Mesa. Now there will be those who disagree but we at Desert Psychlist are of the opinion that "Partial Distortion" is far better for its lack of additional musicians as it is a far truer representation of the band as a working unit, we also feel that it is heavier than anything the band have attempted previously, a sound the band themselves have dubbed "blackened desert".

"Óðr" kicks off "Partial Distortions" and immediately clears up any confusion anyone might have had about the "blackened" element the band describe in their liner notes, its guitar tones are thick sludgy and downright nasty, its bass lines are dialled to low and grizzly and its drums are thunderous, loud and busy, add to this a mix of of clean gritty and growled vocal tones and you are talking one hell of an opening statement. Ok its a given that a good opener is a hook to reel you in but we all have albums in our collections where things have gone quickly downhill after the first number, this is not one of those albums. If you thought "Óðr" hit hard then be prepared for life changing injuries with "The Assertion" a doom laden barnburner in possession of a myriad of dank musical layers that also owes a debt of gratitude to Barry Manilow for its opening line. Red Mesa's default desert rock sound is the dominant force on next song "Dying In The Cold Sun" its guitar tones, circular and expansive, give the song a feeling of vastness but a feeling countered by its larynx tearing vocals which are delivered intense raw and throaty. "12 Volt Shaman" sees Red Mesa still residing in desert territory but toying with elements of urban hip hop/rap in some of the songs vocal and musical stylings while "Desert March", an instrumental, finds Red Mesa creating a soundtrack for a modern day western where cowboys ride into the sunset on Harley Davidson's. Final number "Witching Hour" delivers everything you would expect a song bearing such a title would deliver, dense crunchy distorted guitar refrains, languid circular droning motifs, dark sinister lyricism and vocals that border on the edge of pained, the song serving as the perfect curtain closer to a very, VERY powerful album. 

Those expecting the fuzzy psych of first album "Red Mesa" or the dusty Americana visited on "The Devil and the Desert" are in for a shock when "Partial Distortions" hits their audial canals, yes there were hints on "The Path To The Deathless" that the band were heading in a heavier direction but nobody would have predicted they would get this damn heavy, "blackened" you better believe it!

Check 'em out ....

© 2024 Frazer Jones

IRONxLUNG ~ RIFFSTANBUL ...review

Please do not try to trace IronxLung's journey up to the release of "Riffstanbul", you will only end up confused bewildered and nursing a giant headache, IronxLung for starters have not always been IronxLung they were once Disciples of the Apocalypse and before that Hellfire Dawn and before that ....,(the list goes on). There have been releases as a trio, a duo and on occasions as a one man project, in fact the only constant throughout has been guitarist/vocalist/bassist Joshua Stanard. We could fill up this page with the various line-ups and releases that have led up to this current state of affairs but let's just concentrate on "Riffstanbul" (Tin Ghetto Records) an album that sees Stannard reuniting with his old sparring partner and original Disciples of the Apocalypse member Andres Logan (drums/electronics/vocals).

IronxLung jams a groove rooted in sludge, doom and progressive metal and features vocals that, despite their creaking guttural harshness, are surprisingly easy on the ear. Those, and we know there are a few, who balk at the words "sludge" and "harsh" might find themselves pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the vocals and grooves on display here especially when they come to the realisation that those grooves are not your bog standard walls of noise but are well thought out soundscapes that although in possession of their fair share of noisiness are at times exotic and, dare we say, delicate. There is a huge prog factor at play here too, songs like title track "Riffstanbul", the excellent "Plight of the Cannabinites",the caustic and gnarly "Belly Of A Whale", the bluesy and doomic "Petrified the Mind's Eye" and the two instrumentals "Damascus" and "Rev 21:4" are not just vehicles for crunching riffs and thunderous rhythms but are also in possessed of an array of intricate textures, musical colours and mind-blowing complexities. The musicianship throughout borders on stunning at times especially when the guttural vocals and crunching riffage takes a backseat and allow Stanard free reign to explore his inner guitar god with searing bluesy solos and ear-catching motifs, his axe wielding prowess ably supported by Logan's punchy solid drumming and occasional electronic squeals and squawks. 

For those for whom sludge has always been a bridge to far "Riffstanbul" might just be the album to draw you over to the dark side, if you don't like it you can always turn it off but we don't think you will.

Check it out ...... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones