Mythic Sunship - Upheaval

Blast off! Mythic Sunship are guiding us into an outer dimensional well of chunky waves created via the distorted jazz guitar playing and rock & roll grooves. Emil Thorenfeldt and Kasper Stougard ooze out mountains of riffs through the astral plane while drummer Fredrick Denning and bassist Rasmus Cleve depart into an interstellar sea of rhythms.

The music of Upheaval is absolutely hypnotic and enduring. I feel like I’m being rolled over by a supernova. The lengthy instrumentals are riding through the turbulence of eclectic grooves and about a half dozen different genres covering psychedelic atmospheric rock. Mythic Sunship's new album is the stuff of euphoric stoned bliss.

The album hits many highs and lows, crawls as slow rhythms and bursts into monolithic meltdowns of loud supercharged rock music that bend in laser light and technicolor mist. Within its second half the album feels out a dirge of weary vibes, unrelenting of in its captivating riffs and tones. Mythic Sunship are definitely ascending a higher atmosphere. 

Drudkh - They Often See Dreams About the Spring

Drudkh aren’t finished with with their zenith; They Often See Dreams About the Spring surges with sweeping harmonies and breathtaking cadences. Surely this is a renaissance for their career, as the Ukrainian based group follows up the critical success of A Furrow Cut Short with an even better album in my estimation.

It’s an unloading and cryptic album with hypnotic songs that dig down into the dirge of a warrior’s spirit. Artistically the album renders images of rolling landscapes and hideous flames purging all in its path. This is the purity of raw black metal in an environment that has fostered more than one thousand years of war torn poverty and oppression. It is no coincidence, in my mind’s eye, that this outfit has been releasing such tenacious material in the outcropping of a war that continues to tear apart their homeland.

Among Drudkh’s most persevering hallmarks is the ability to create music that rises above the tension. On one end of the spectrum is a style that relentlessly attacks in the form of their second wave inspired black metal assault, but they are also cultivating inspiration from folk ballads and the mystique of their culture. Beyond the maelstrom are symbols of faith and relief. Like the life of a forest that dies and breathes again, Drudkh lives out the tragedy of their struggle and relays inspiration out into the fog.

Release date is March 9th.

Absent - Towards The Void

Absent have chosen a peculiar name, because there’s nothing missing from this band. Towards The Void is a monolithic debut LP from this South American three piece. Enchanting, riveting, and absolutely pummeling in every sense of the word. Absent are carving out a place worthy of honor somewhere between the apocalyptic barren landscape and infinite wheel of ethereal cosmos that defines their sound.

Towards The Void offers a cacophony of psychedelic doom and sludge within a cyclone of hypnotic reverb. Their rhythms are absolutely on point and reminiscent of early Electric Wizard, with a raw authenticity that came before the success of their majestic Dopethrone days.

Although Towards The Void only has four tracks, each song tops off at around ten minutes and assures that you’re going to be pulled into a twisting nether several times. Beyond layers of phasers and dream shaping riffs there is a tunnel through which vocalist Thiago Satyr delivers churning melodies that provoke imagery of ghastly incantation. Rocking underneath a mountain of nihilistic artistry the guitarist Luan Lima leans toward the basic formula of blues and metal. Psychedelic trips diverge off the path often into crushing climatic waves of heavy crushing chords backed by unrelenting mantras from the void. Towards The Void is righteous and burns slow, a total package of beautiful melancholy and free spirited nihilism lost in a storm of oscillating dark energy.

Lowdrive - Roller

Roller kicks your teeth in from the get go. There is nothing soft or cute about its opening track “The Last Stand”, a call to arms amidst groovy metal riffs. Much the same can be said about track deuce, “Roller”, the eponymous rocker fueled by high octane ass kicking southern style heavy metal. The music also has some strong similarities to the blues based grooves of 90s grunge and alternative hard rock. You may find yourself making several comparisons to Stone Temple Pilots and Deliverance era Corrosion of Conformity. Between the feel good vibes and good ol’ ass kicking jams in Roller, this is a real gem with a really authentic and experienced group of guys behind the helm. In a metal scene that's almost entirely over saturated with bands dependent on gimmicks, Lowdrive are creating pure old school heavy music from the heart.

 

Catch the breeze, light a doobie, have a beer and take a trip with Lowdrive.

Merlin - The Wizard

Merlin’s The Wizard is a fun and exotic album that stretches the idea of doom metal. The introduction of saxophone expands the capabilities of this storied genre to a whole new dimension. This is the brilliant kind of craftsmanship that makes an album stand out for its daring creativity. From the opener, you’ll notice that this is a band which is going to do things differently and do them well.

After you notice the groovy sax on the first track “Abyss”, you may notice the fluid interwoven follow up with the album’s next track “Gravelord.” The Wizard is a conceptual album that tells a tale and each track is intentionally set up so that you listen to this whole release sequentially. With that being said, “Gravelord” also shows what this band is capable in terms of writing awesome lyrics and catchy rhythms. The song has spellbinding melodies and an otherworldly guitar solo. The saxophone gets jazzier on “Sage’s Crystal Staff”, a shorter track but certainly a powerful addition for its incredibly hypnotic sax solos. It is backed up by the heavy foreboding song “Golem.”

The tempo is traditionally slow with synths and organs to that help to establish a thick psychedelic and at times funeral ambiance. When the sax and guitars work in tandem such as on “Iron Borne”, the band is going to a place no other band has touched in my recollection.

The grooves on The Wizard are so freaking amazing and spontaneous. What an ass kicking and unforgettable thrill ride. You’ll be relieved to know the album is only about 39 minutes long, a perfect cut out time to avoid fizzling out. Fans of anime may consider this the Cowboy Bebop of high fantasy. Drop the stellar crew in a Dungeons & Dragons setting, and this is the album you will get. At least I’m certainly drifting off into space sitting here listening to this. Merlin, please don’t let me come back down.

Album released: January 26th 2018
 

Dog Chasing Sun - Slow Burn

Brooding epic and melancholy; Dog Chasing Sun’s Slow Burn is an authentic reverie of post metallic stoner friendly tunes. For a one man project, the album is an especially noteworthy release. The album has catchy grooves and consistently heavy tracks with thick ambience to set the mood.

Some of the tracks like the creatively titled “Selldestruction” are easy to chill out and relax listening to which helps the album move along smoothly, instead of becoming monotone and dreary after about a half hour.

I would say the reverb in Slow Burn sounds awkward in the mix and at times something almost feels incomplete, but in a way it also enhances the astral trippy vibe. There’s an ethereal richness to each tune. IIt could be cool or annoying depending on how you receive the music.

Sometimes the music can get a bit repetitive and the lack of vocals does sometimes make Slow Burn feel lackluster, but it’s otherwise a solid result of one man’s vision. The variations in style and change ups are welcome and usually done practically. 
 

The Bad Light/Tuna De Tierra - The Bad Tuna (Split)

It’s always a special feeling to discover a band that kicks your ass and when you can discover two on one album that’s even better.

There aren’t many ways to describe The Bad Light in terms of genre placement. They reconcile with so many different styles and tones that it’d be an effort in futility to define them with a couple of words. From hillbilly to southern rock and country to badass stoner grooves, this Santa Cruz, California based outfit is definitely wild. Each of their four tracks on the split are excellent and sure to please.

Tuna de Tierra are a bit more trippy and deliver a more eclectic vibe. Their music has kind of a lazy tone to it, but I mean that in a positive way. At times the Italian group can also dig down deep into raw ass kicking riffs that legitimize them as rockers alongside The Bad Light. The atmospheric quotients that Tuna de Tierra are responsible for are off of the charts. Pure desert rock, baby.