Band Submission: Swamp Things-Hard Rock From Oslo, Norway

Band Name: Swamp Things
Genre: Hard Rock
Location: Oslo, Norway
Brief Bio/Description: The Norwegian four-piece band Swamp Things have now submitted our second album, 'Blue Desert, Red Skies', for mastering, and a release is imminent.

We've been playing together, with different line-ups and Ola being the only founding member, since 2009. Our first record, 'All Beer and Skittles', was recorded in 2012 and released in 2013.

We play a hard-hitting form of rock, inspired by stoner, hard rock, prog and doom.
Band Members:
Ivan Reigstad (lead vocals)
Ola Solheim (guitar)
Pål G. Sivertzen (drums, programmed synth, backing vocals) Ruben Carlsen (bass)
Links: Facebook

Quick Hit: Red Mountains

Coming out this September on the German label Nasoni Records is a tremendous new band from Trondheim, Norway. Red Mountains play a slow, desert tinged brand of Stoner Rock glistening with a touch of psychedelia. At times the guitars have a western twang and the vocals arouse the aural cavity with their harmonies and soaring ability. The artwork almost appears to have a weathered look as if released in the past and screams to be issued on red vinyl-hint.

Check out the first single "Sun" off the upcoming release "Down With the Sun". 

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New Band To Burn One To: WARP RIDERS

"As I was driving home from work today, I was listening to all of the over-commercialized and over-played bullshit that comes with listening to terrestrial/satellite radio wishing that I had queued up the playlist before putting the car into drive. I couldn't wait to get home to listen to something far less familiar, something that more people need to do when it comes to music, to get out of their comfort zone per say.  

Today I was looking for something that was heavy and had an intense groove. I found that in Norwegian band Warp Riders. On their latest 4-song EP "Astral Plane", the band displays an over-abundance of weighed-down bluesy riffs and body trembling groove with a bit of psychedelia thrown in for good measure.

With an ear tilted towards the seventies, these four tracks are loaded with double-layered fuzz, free-flowing leads, and hard-driving bass lines. Passionate vocals and steadfast drumming round out this gratifying aural quickie. 

Recently, the band was named one of the nation's most promising bands of "Pyro on P3 (National Radio), and has been on tour in Germany. 

I look forward to hearing more from this band hopefully in the near future. 

For now I'll just jump on board for a sensational ride."

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New Band To Burn One To: Kal-El

HEAVY PLANET presents...KAL-EL!

"Out of the ashes of such heavy metal acts as Theatre of Tragedy, Six Eyes Lost, Desspo and Gabbathor/Deviant rises a triumphant and celebratory ode to the love of the riff. On their debut release "Pakal", Kal-el sets forth a fuzz-fueled riff-fest guaranteed to warm your bones on a cold Norwegian winter's night. The band features Ulven (Vocals), Roffe (Guitars), Liz (Bass) and  Bjudas (Drums). 

With a straight-forward approach and a penchant for the heavy, songs such as "Fire Machine" and "Falling Stone" are true stoner bliss. "Fire Machine" starts off with a kick-ass bass intro and grooves along while the Ozzy-like vocals soar. The band even offers their own rendition of the Sabbath classic "Hole in the Sky" added as a bonus track. You may be familiar with the band as their song "Quasar" was chosen for inclusion on this year's edition of "Bong Hits From the Astral Basement". A foot-stomping heavy brain smasher with a cool mid-song drum onslaught and bluesy guitar lead. Good stuff!"

 According to the band, the album can currently be found on iTunes. 

Beer Pairing: SUNTURNBREW

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Demo Review - Barbarian Fist

Norwegians Barbarian Fist are a power trio doom metal band and according to their bandcamp blurb they, "Consist of equal parts downtuned fuzz guitar, used up riffs, and sexual innuendo, this power trio strives to make music that will make you less inclined to take a bath, more likely to ingest large amounts of beer, as well as instantly grow a magnificent beard(regardless of gender)."

There are 2 songs that make up this demo EP with "The Whorelord Cometh" being the first and which opens with a sample from Conan the Barbarian and Arnie, after having been asked what is best in life replies, "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." A soft groove then teases before an almighty fuzz is turned up to supreme and drops with all the fuzzed out glory of anything by those weedian priests we know as Sleep. The similarity to Sleep stays through much of the first half of this song with vocals that drip Sleep-ness but half way things turn blissfully psychedelic with soaring riffs and licks that had me thinking of Astroqueen and their catchy riffed and ultra-fuzzed brand stoner metal.

"No Brakes on the Rape Train" has some solo guitar work that takes a few leaves out of Colour Haze's book before the chunky fuzz riffs and thundering drums are unleashed to reveal a hazy blend of Kyuss and Colour Haze style riffs blowing with an air of breezy positivity that lead to hugely satisfying guitar lickery towards the end. Licks so satisfying in fact that despite this track being an instrumental, I still managed to sing along.

There is little new or unique in Barbarian Fist's sound but what stands out for me is that this band take used up riffs and meld them with their own to make some very pleasing stoner/doom metal and I very much hope to hear more from this band in the future.

                     BANDCAMP  // FACEBOOK

Zac's "Double Dose": Tombstones / Void Moon

Tombstones: Year of the Burial 

An all Scandinavian Double Dose can't be a bad thing! First up are Norway's Tombstones with their pure doom record Year of the Burial. Our compadre Toby introduced us to this leviathan back in 2010 with their release Volume II. Well, needless to say Tombstones is back and with a darker demeanor. The trio have taken their fine skills, polished them and added some solid song writing for this sophomore release. Within the first moments of listening the most noticeable sounds are the truly earth-shattering bass lines. Honestly Mr. [Ole] Helstad is emitting enough bass through these speakers to rattle the teeth from your jaw, and you being a Heavy Planet reader know this is a good thing. Vocal duties are shared between guitarist Bjørn and Ole. These vocals at times are chant-like, fogged by the immense vibrations and create an uneasy atmosphere. Other times they over-power, ablaze in fury, like being shouted down in abuse. In the end I just call it doom... and damn good doom. Get your copy from Soulseller Records!

 

Members: 

Bjørn-Viggo Godtland - Vocals // Guitar 

Jørn Inge Woldmo - Drums 

Ole Christian Helstad - Bass // Vocals

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Void Moon: On the Blackest of Nights 

That's right 'Planet-heads...Scandinavia strikes again! Well, properly... Sweden does with Void Moon and their soon-to-be released On the Blackest of Nights. Void Moon are a classic doom four-piece that kneel at the altar of Sabbath and Candlemass. Void Moon crush with a steady pace of bass heavy riff-age. If you are looking for something a little more traditional to add to your playlist check out the single Hammer of Eden below and if you need a copy head you will have to wait. On the Blackest of Nights will be officially released and available November 6th courtesy of Cruz Del Sur Music.

Members: 

Erika Wallberg - Guitar 

Jonas Gustavsson - Guitars // Vocals 

Peter Svensson - Bass 

Thomas Hedlund - Drums

I bandcamp I facebook I web I

Zac's "Double Dose": Broken Betty / Solens Barn

Broken Betty: Original Features 

Betty a'int broken... She's a well oiled, Polish three-piece throwing dirty blues and punk through a wood chipper, and some how the outcome amounts to so much more. The opening track, Bastard Rocket, (a single recently added to Heavy Planet Radio) is the remaining chips made up of a massive bass-line and an aggro shouts. This is all well and good, but Betty really grabs me by the balls with the EP closer Terminus / Freedom Out Of Fire. This expansive piece moves away from the 'punk blues' we heard moments before and into an alternant reality that only Crack The Skye has proved in recent music history. The twelve and a half minute monster certainly seems like some bastard spawn from Red Fang and Mastodon. Check it out below or stop by bandcamp for more Broken Betty.

 

Members: 

Jan "Dziablas" Galbas - Vocal // Bass 

Piotr "Pacior" Paciorkowski - Guitars 

Sebastian Sawicz - Drums

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Solens Barn 

Children of the Sun, also known as Solens Barn (in Norwegian), are a dark rock and experimental metal quartet from Norway's oil capitol Stavanger. Plodding along with an intenstly distorted bass-line and thunderous percussion, Mr. Dvergastein and company will drowned listeners with their drone heavy tunes and haunting lyrics. Check out their latest track Solslottet Session below. There are also some killer live clips from Cementen at their blogspot page.

 

Members: 

Anders Hjorth Mosnes - Drums 

Anders Refsnes - Guitar // Vocals 

Kjetil Brandsdal - Bass 

Markus Dvergastein - Guitar // Vocals

I soundcloud I web I

New Band To Burn One To- Scumbag Travel Agency

The "New Band To Burn One To" today is Scumbag Travel Agency.

Bio:

"Scumbag Travel Agency originated in 2006, as Erik "Scumbag" Skundberg's one man band. Having lived the rock n'roll-life for some years, Skundberg found the way back to his hometown outside Gjøvik, Norway.

From his bedroom he started to make heavy, energetic stoner rock. With himself on drums, bass, guitars and vocals, Skundberg recorded a number of songs and ideas. In the summer of 2009, he had a demo recorded in a studio in Gjøvik consisting of the songs Slow Burning, Step Up and Star F * ck Machine. The demo gained massive positive response on YouTube, MySpace and the Norwegian Urørt page. People demanded to hear and see this live, and Skundberg began to look for a band. In the autumn of 2010 "Scumbag" finally had his Travel Agency going with Vemund Vasshaug on bass guitar and Tony Søndbø on drums.

The band has finally started to rock stages all around Norway and spread their catchy, tight and insanely addictive version of stoner rock. STA has set it's course and first in line is to leave all venues hanging for more and crowds screaming for extra doses of the instant fix of STA's traveling groove machine."




The feeling you get while listening to Norway's Scumbag Travel Agency is like having the wind blowing through your hair while driving through the desert with the top down (albeit possibly quite cold in Norway and no deserts in sight). Melodic, hard driving and blazing, this band has some pretty cool stoner rock jams to get the blood flowing. Check'em out.

MySpace|Facebook|YouTube

New Band To Burn One To-Tombstones

The "New Band To Burn One To" today is the heavy as shit 4-piece band Tombstones from Oslo, Norway.

"Tombstones play heavy, suggestive and down-tuned. From selected sources of inspiration, Tombstones stay faithful to a formula based on tenaciuos, free and riff-based rock.Through lyrics and mood, the fog will ooze from the dark woods of eastern Norway"

Tombstones has a new album due to be released by years end and is being produced by Bill Anderson (Sleep, Melvins,Cathedral).

Last weekend the band supported Nebula at a club in Oslo to an enthusiastic crowd, and are currently scheduled to appear at the Gunfest festival with acts such as Electric Wizard, Rwake, Grand Magus, Grief, Mustasch, Witchcraft and more!

MySpace

"The Hand of Doom will point at You!" Check them out now!!

Free MP3 "Wrecks Of Time"