New Band To Burn One To: Tusmørkejuvel

Ok, we'll admit it, we've got no idea how to pronounce this band's name either, but what really matters when it comes to these Danish dudes is that they fucking rock!  This self-titled debut EP is four songs of killer desert stoner jams and crushing riffs, just how we all like it. The guys aren't breaking any new ground, but rather showing you how good the floor you're walking on is already!

Check out their debut EP, and keep your eye on these guys in the very near future.

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Band Submission: Silverleaf-Progressive Stoner Psych From Denmark

Band Name: Silverleaf
Genre: Progressive-Stoner-Psych-Bluesy Rock
Location: Denmark
Brief Bio/Description: Silverleaf is a Danish/ Norwegian power trio formed during the summer of 2014. The band contains musicians from earlier bands Fuzz Manta, Cherry Overdrive and Nicolai Wilhelm Tell & the Tea Company, and each member draws on years of live experience from the Danish and European scenes. The band delivers a genuine package of progressive rock, stoner, psychedelia and blues mixed with a lot of melodic elements. The trio moves smoothly between the delicate airy breeze and the massive dark abyss with a ton of passion as common denominator.
In the fall of 2015 Silverleaf went to Hannover, Germany, and recorded their coming debut album, which will be released on Berlin based Bilocacion Records/Kozmik Artifactz summer 2016.

Band Members:
Morgan Cederborg: Guitar
Lene Kjær Hvillum: Vox & Bass
Morten Albjerg Rasmussen: Drums
Links: YouTube | Facebook

Band Submission: Heathe-Doom/Sludge From Aalborg, Denmark

Band Name: Heathe
Genre: Doom/Sludge
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
Brief Bio/Description: Heathe is a project born in Aalborg, Denmark out of the will to examine the massive and repetitive. The four tracks consists of drums, bass, guitars, organs, trombones, screams, bowed cymbals and wind all structured as massive walls of sound that constantly is on the vert of falling apart, with lyrical themes concerning the fragility of the human kind and how we are naturally evil.
Band Members: 
Martin Jensen: plays all the instruments, did the recording, mix and master, wrote the stuff and screamed the words
Links: Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Thunderwhip-"High On the Mountain"

"High On the Mountain" is taken off of the band's 4-song demo "Bloodsucker". On this track, this 3-piece from Denmark delivers a thunderous right hook of huge and fuzzy vintage stoner metal riffage. The tune is solidified by a big and burly vocal, a cool clap along rhythm and a laid back groove. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

LP Review: 'Hjortene' by Hjortene

Ahh genre labels, where would we be without them? What better ways are there to not just include bands into your listening circles by labelling them under the same genre or sub-genre as your listening tastes, but also to exclude any bands from ever giving them a listen? It seems a long time ago when there were merely just pop/rock categories down your local music store, now everything has its own sub-sub-sub-grouping, just to narrow your tastes down even further. And just when you thought there were no more categories to explore, we are given stoner-punk!

None of the genre ranting has anything to do with Denmark’s finest purveyors of “stoner-punk” music however, and it’d be a shame to take the attention away from the music, as their self-titled record is pretty special. Hjortene  opens with ‘180,000 km/t’, a blistering three minute blast of punk rock fury, with vocals from Valiant Thorr’s Valiant Himself. Where the overtly punk aesthetic is clearly there, the attitude is layered with thick and fast stoner riffs which make the band standout as genre groundbreakers. It’s a sound which carries a nuance of surprise as you never can settle with the sound, not knowing if the angry punk or the soothing stoner is going to berate you next. Palle Hjort’s vocals throw the band back straight into stoner territory with ‘Igennem Hárde Tider’, a slightly subdued voice guiding the guitars into their layers of pulverising riffs.

Singing in their national tongue doesn’t affect the sound of the band to those not fluent in Danish, as the lyrics become simply another instrument to rock your fists to. Whether it’s the grooves of ‘Classic Rock FM’ or the instrumental onslaught of ‘Epic Indian’, Hjortene is a record which dresses to impress with thick waves of heavy riffage matched by a youthful urgency many try to imitate, but few address naturally. A track such as ‘James Brown’ featuring vocals from fellow Danish punk band President Fetch, sung in English, is like a wake up call to those stagnant bands on the stoner scene, to basically get there shit together and step up their game.

Forget everything. Forget labels, forget what you think you know about a sound, a genre, a style, a foreign language. Hjortene is a record which needs to be explored and divulged into completely (and with the other band members going under the names of Claus Doomhammer Hjort, and Kim of Death Hjort, how can you possibly not get on board this?).

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Sunday Sludge: Bottom Feeder - "Grinding Teeth"

You can believe all you want there's a life to everything. Argue with the tautology that one thing leads to another and the symbiosis is free of time restraints. There's no life without soil, there is no soil without life, right? Stop it. There's no soil without death. It's a caustic and callous perspective, but if nothing died we'd run out of space to live. So simplistic, I know. But death becomes soil and soil nourishes crops and crops are dealt all over the world to feed just about everything.

But you don't wanna hear about death. You wanna hear about soccer games and good times with old friends and you want social media to scatter that fuckin' fake bullshit to all your fish-eatin' followers so your life can seem less awful than theirs. Come on. We're exhausted with all of it, and so is Copenhagen's Bottom Feeder. Their 2013 LP Grinding Teeth missed my queue, and finally screening the album in winter's worst months is my just desserts. If there IS a life to everything, then Bottom Feeder offer reminders of death, loss, and scattered thoughts.

From the onset of Void's cryptic politicking and repellent screeches, listeners will struggle to balance the abrasive and the numbing. Sunday Sludge hasn't offered anything this vile in ages, as agonizingly sharp and piercing licks counter sanded flesh. Seven staggering ticks both stick and sway beneath the veil of a Randy Blythe vocal, both viscous and torturous, swaying and hanging like limbs stuck to severed tendons.

On Life Support offers sick groove behind abrasive feedback, but we're given no reason to dance. The track showcases a duality that makes this album so compelling. It's frightening to realize you're not allowed to feel good. A punctuated, pervasive stop-start dynamic is all-encompassing in its negativity, but the marriage of punk meters and locomotive thickness is a lacing that ignores traditional structures. A lead-in to the title track smooths a wavering of black-molasses doom spreading over slabs of cold-stone sludge. Grinding Teeth's most vile track is also its most true, offering swaying hatred and a staggering spew of vitriol to anyone who'll listen.

The revved sludge of Tension drags us through frozen fields littered with broken stalks. There's no end to the abrasion, and while guitars offer the promise of escape, it's those filthy tempos that pin your shoulders. The back-and-forth is as dizzying as the repeated strikes, but you'll ultimately return to your knees in an indentured servitude. The echoed haunt of Dehydration is intermissionary in its unsettling showcase of a slow, dark embrace. If you can, simply give in to the extraction of hope. At least for a few moments until we meet the cringe-worthy Trusted By Few. The pendulum of lament has swung straight south, while pairing grinds and screeches is a punky-paced fist-fuck of motor-breathed tempos. Believe it or not, it's as in-your-face as anything else on the album.

If you've read this, you're likely the sort of fuck-up who could embrace Grinding Teeth's all-encompassing negativity. Do you really wanna feel better about things? Sometimes there's comfort in darkness, perhaps because it's real and un-glossed. If the sweet ain't so sweet without the sour, then Bottom Feeder have the world pretty-well figured out. These six tracks are jaded, sharp, and painful. When you think about it, it sounds like your marriage. Your commute. Your meetings with your boss. Maybe Bottom Feeder know you better than you know yourself. Sad, huh?

For fans of: Grief, Buzzov*en, Eyehategod
Pair with: Indian Brown Ale, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Inc.

Facebook | Soundcloud | Raw Birth Records

Album Review: Mojave Desert Rebels - "High Class Clown"

As a listener, as a fan, what is the epitome of rock n' roll? What does a band have to possess, develop, or deliver to be at the height of . . . not greatness in the sense of fame and fortune, but greatness in terms of music recorded. Kyuss reached that level without ever achieving the fame and subsequent fortune they so richly deserved, and the stoner/doom world is littered with similar examples - Dozer, Truckfighters, Fu Manchu, Sasquatch, Brain Police - many that will jump instantly to your mind if not to mine. So, what is it these underground, unsung rock n' roll heroes deliver that makes them so special? Simply put, great music, but great music consisting of parts that stand alone as crafted impeccably, and that then come together as a phenomenal experience. Parts that are made up of agile, athletic drumwork, pulse pounding bass guitar, vocals of devilish delight, melodies that hook you so hard you nearly bleed, and above all, guitar made with the stuff of the cosmos, pure and brilliant and intrinsic to our very soul. Today's band, on their debut EP release, have managed to not only manufacture music in a similar fashion, with superlative individual performances playing masterful melodies blended into what will surely be for many fans of this pure form of rock a memorable and monumental experience to be cherished for years to come, but to add one more component to the mix that sends it over the top in pure reverberated bliss - excitement. Mojave Desert Rebels, to benignly state what will become obvious after listening to their album, enjoy what they do to a very high degree. This makes for a total rock experience that can only be surpassed in a live environment. Put on your tennies and keep your whiplash brace handy as you plug this hi test music in and spin all dials as far to the right as they will go. (Settle down, it's just a poor metaphor, not meant to be taken literally).
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MOJAVE DESERT REBELS - "HIGH CLASS CLOWN"

Hailing from Copenhagen, Denmark, and having only been together since 2011, the foursome of Mojave Desert Rebels have managed to leapfrog to the forefront of enjoyable rock music with their initial studio release of the EP "High Class Clown"

The members are:

Martin Bentø - Vocals
Morten Bernstorf Hansen - Guitar
Andreas Bütow Pröll - Drums
Guillaume Blanjean - Bass


These guys take their cues from classic heavy hitters such as Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top as well as genre giants Kyuss, implicit in the name of their band. While the influences certainly exist, they have taken the tools learned and developed their own unique method of carving up the ether with distortion and fuzz, slicing through with a fierceness and joy rarely noticed in a band. "High Class Clown" is the home to four raunchy, rockin', four minute forays where excitement and ability blend for an unforgettable experience.

The EP kicks off with "Village in the Sands", a seemingly pleasant ditty that opens with an enjoyable melody of agreeable delivery that has a slight smolder at first perhaps going unnoticed in the totality of the music and not becoming immediately or fully apparent, never having a true switch, instead simply building in intensity until by the time the solo is unleashed, almost 2 minutes in, an all out blitz of emotion, volume, and distortion is in full bore ear plug mode. This is the introduction to Bentø's vocals, a powerful tool in the massive instrumental battery of these proxy desert rockers.

The title track is next up and unlike its predecessor starts off with a show of might. Hansen and Bentø showcase their muscle in slow flexion while Blanjean and Pröll drive it all forward in measured and powerful deliveries of rhythmic domination throughout the first half, all brilliantly in control of a tapestry of hot burning fuses that eventually reach the payload where a big bang of brilliance and expanding magnitude is unleashed. The payoff is a second half that evolves into an exquisite display of interwined brilliance and monstrous musicianship.

"Enemies on Fire" exquisitely opens with Bentø's plaintive wail of aching beauty that is soon taken up by riff, lick, hook, and fill from dynamic deliveries of deep instrumental distortion running through an escalating atmospheric ascension toward an incomparable crescendo of brilliance and domination.

"Towers of the Skies" rolls out heavy machinery topped by napalm delivery systems. Blanjean's basswork here is incredible - deep, nimble, and unyielding as the stanchion upon which Bentø and Hansen propel heat seeking missiles in a spreading arc of white hot brilliance and Pröll maintains a radius of staccato discharge. As this fuzz destroyer advances the intensity increases in a slow burning buildup of ferocity and proficiency until maximum output is reached at climax.

Not listed on the album but included as a YouTube video below is "The Desert Song", a slightly different, bluesier, equally intense and brilliant song. Check it out along with the EP on Bandcamp, Reverbnation, or Soundcloud.

I think you will be hard pressed to find much in the world of rock this year that delivers on as many musical levels as "High Class Clown" while also demonstrating  sheer pleasure and enjoyment in delivery. It is a brilliant debut from a band that is likely destined for some level of notoriety if longevity can become one more hallmark of the band.







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New Band To Burn One To: MOONLESS

Heavy Planet presents...MOONLESS!

Today's "New Band To Burn One To" comes to you today from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Band Bio:

Moonless is a doomrock band from Copenhagen/Elsinore. In the last two years Moonless have been dominating the almost non existent stoner scene in Denmark, supporting legendary bands such as Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Church of Misery.

Their main influence, is Black Sabbath and many other heavy rock bands from the 70'ties, so expect a worship of the heavy riff, slow groove, and to get blown away.

They have made a self released 12". "Born Burned Out" and a limited tour edition of the "Calling All Demons" Lp which was released March 2012 on Doomentia Records.



Thoughts:

"On their latest CD "Calling All Demons", Denmark's Moonless stake claim to a collection of songs brazenly slapped in the face by the hand of doom. The harmonious buzz of the guitars are prevalent throughout and you eventually find yourself humming along to the melody instead of singing along to the lyrics. Not to take anything away from the vocals, which by the way, lend a quivering raspy roar to this piece of majestic sonic bliss. While the tempo is mostly slow and is guided by a tight rhythm section, there are times when the pace picks up to break up the monotony. Standouts for me include the title track, "Mark of the Dead", and "Midnight Skies".  I found this album to be an enjoyable piece of seventies-influenced doom rock and highly recommend. "

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New Band To Burn One To: PLOW

Heavy Planet presents... PLOW!

Today's "New Band To Burn One To" comes to you from Denmark.

Band Bio:

Plöw is a band that started in the spring of 2009. Originally founded by front man Rune Bæk and lead guitarist James Becker. Later that year two of their old Højskole friends joined them. Mads Bruun Rasmusen respectively playing bass and Søren Stenger tightening up the rhythm department. About 3 months after the band got fully formed they recorded their first EP. This 6 song self titled debut was recorded at M&T studios in south Jylland and was then later on released in February of 2010. The release came only a week before Plöw emerged on their first tour. The tour was a 9 day tour around Denmark where they served as a support band for the Swedish Stoner Rock band New Keepers of the Water Towers.

Following the tour Plöw kept on roaming the underground scene of Denmark. Playing a handful of gigs inside and out of Aarhus. Teaming up with bands like Magnified Eye, Double Space, AEDRA, Drön, Ruun and Hexis. In January 2011 Plöw emerged to the M&T studio again tracking what would come to be their next EP. Plöw started by releasing the single High Tide with a following video. The video has gotten allot of praise around the viral community as well as the song. In December 2011 Plöw released their second EP, Bicentennial Picnic.

Bicentennial Picnic contains 4 tracks including the single High Tide. Bicentennial Picnic is only available online at the moment. But in early 2012 it will be released in a physical form and will be for sale at their live concerts.
Stay tuned for more news and updates.



Thoughts:

"Sometimes a band's name is as appropriate as to the music they play. Plow "plows" through each track with reckless abandon and in a scene which was once vibrant and healthy, now just nothing more than trampled wasteland. Plow plays a rumbling brand of Stoner Metal enhanced with an element of resonating Sludge overtones. Their 6-song EP "Bicentennial Picnic" is just a tease as what to expect from Plow. The guitars scream and hum, drums are beaten to a pulp, and the vocals seer to the point you are gasping for air. Once the band lets up you find yourself not wanting but needing more. Until then we have this EP, now go get your fix."

(((gogoyoko|behance|youtube)))

"Heavy Rotation"- Sungrazer-"Self-Titled"

The album I have in "Heavy Rotation" this week is the self-titled debut from Sungrazer.

Bio:

Sungrazer is a heavy rock three piece formed in the beginning of 2009. Their music ranges from psychedelic jams to stoner rock. Dutch music medium VPRO 3VOOR12 wrote: "After a mad and sometimes reckless journey through swamp and desert, the members of Sungrazer seem to have reached their final destination. Return to the stoner roots, so with a twist of Kyuss! Calm, rising and dragging riffs, sometimes with a psychedelic edge, alternate heavy droning choruses."

In May-July and September 2009 the band was involved in an international theatre production where they wrote music for a theater play called Wunschkamer. They played in theaters together with the actors of Theatergroep Het Vervolg from Maastricht and Theater K from Aachen. There they met Conny Schneider; she accompanies the band on saxophone occasionally.

In February 2010 they won the Nu of Nooit contest which means that they played at the Pinkpop festival 28th of May!!!

Sungrazer signed a record deal with Elektrohasch in May 2010.

Now onto the music...

The first time that I ever heard of Sungrazer was on the PlanetFuzz compilation Cowbells & Cobwebs and couldn't wait to get my hands on more music from the band. I must honestly say that since getting their latest self-titled album or 6 song-extended EP if you prefer, I cannot take this CD off of my MP3 player, therefore I am placing it in "Heavy Rotation".

As you would naturally expect by the name of the band, the obvious assumption would be that the band plays a brand of desert/psychedelic/stoner rock. Well if you did make that assumption you would be correct. Okay now a little bit about the music. The album as a whole is a great album to just put on the headphones and chill out to. Think of a mix between Kyuss and Colour Haze.

The band does a great job of starting off the songs soft and washy and eventually crushing you with a tidal wave of heavy, this is best evidenced on the song "Zero, Zero" which has a bit of a jazzy feel and is probably my favorite tune on the album. The grooves are thick and lumbering and go deep into your soul.

"Common Believer" starts off with a fantastic riff while drummer Hans Mulders beats the shit out of his cymbals, while keeping the listener on a steady ride through the desert. Vocalist and guitarist Rutger Smeets
(great name, by the way) has that cool as hell lazy vocal delivery and emits one of the best fuzzed-out guitar sounds I've ever heard. Bassist Sander Haagmans starts off "Mountain Dusk" with a down right funky groove as the song builds into another sonic blast of killer stoner rock goodness.

Each song is gradually epic, thunderously heavy, spacey, and beautifully melodic. What more can you ask for? I say just go listen for yourself, you'll be glad you did. This is worthy of Top 10 status for 2011 and will be on "heavy rotation" throughout the year and beyond.

Tracklist:

1.If
2.Intermezzo
3.Somo
4.Common Believer
5.Zero Zero
6.Mountain Dusk

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Mini-Review: Dragontears-Turn on Tune in Fuck Off!!

Dragontears-Turn on Tune in Fuck off!!

Review by Zac Boda

I had no idea what to expect when I received the album “Turn on Tune in Fuck off!!” This is some wild album artwork (not surprised, they are from Denmark). Psychedelic background and colors, check. Nude people, check. Guns and bullet belts, check. Gas masks?, check. Is this like a killer, groovy, apocalyptic version of Austin Powers!? I think so.


This is how Dragontears describes it, “groovy, doomsday, funk”. I’m not sure exactly what that is, but I like it. This is a fun album to listen to. Imagine a night of flyin’ high, coming down slow, and finally mellowing out. I think everyone will dig this one.

The beginning of the album, “Two Tongue Talk” and “No Salvation”, are funky and groovy. You could dance to these tunes. They are followed by an extremely well placed and written acoustic song called, “My Friend”. The album then picks up pace slightly with the very trippy and bass heavy “Time of No Time”. Our outro goes with a doom / drone mode, lyrically written in Danish. “William” will take you on a comic ride “droning” you directly into Mennesketvilling. And so you land, ready to start over again!

I cannot wait to pick up the previous two albums Dragontears has created. I hope they are as enjoyable as “Turn on Tune in Fuck off!!” If you think these guys are up your alley, head over to their myspace page. There is a great cover of Dylan's "Master's of War".

Lorenzo & company you earn 4.7 out of 5.0.

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Psychewalks of Eternal Karma From Denmark

Check out this fine group of youngsters from Denmark called Psychewalks of Eternal Karma. I like what I hear, extremely raw and unapologetic. See for yourself.

"We are a group of 4 boys at the age of 16. We met at Sejergaardsskolen in Tølløse this year. and we've been playing together ever since. The style of music is heavy, 70's inspired, downtuned, stoner rock with some psychedelic soundscapes, and a slightly overdriven hammond organ in there. Also lots of fuzzy guitars and bass, will be found throughout the whole thing."

MySpace

Listen to some of their tunes below.