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.

Bandcamp|Facebook

Album Review: Buzzzard - "Cold Blood"

Dateline Carbondale, Illinois. Four young rock n roll entrepreneurs have decided to band together and create an album in the stoner blues style. Of course, this is nothing unusual. This happens all the time all over the world with slight variations in style of music and number of band members. But what doesn't happen all the time is a perfect confluence of talent, desire, and ability. It has happened here.

This album is pure stoner blues. There's nothing else there and there doesn't need to be. It's beautiful, magical, and haunting. 7 tracks where guitar, bass, drums, and vocals weave a primal, almost spiritual musical journey. It is keen in scope and massive in conveyance.

Band members are:

Mike Lighty - Guitar/Vocals
Cody Beckman - Drums/Backup Vocals
Ben Bleyer - Bass
Kasey Rogers - Guitar/Backup Vocals



bandcamp || facebook

Album Review: 'Midnight Cometh' by Wo Fat

For the uninitiated, Wo Fat are Dallas Texas 3-piece riff-lords whose sound is buried deep in desert rock, under the influence of bluesy doomy psychedelia, who've been tripping to Sabbath, Hendrix and Kyuss records for years. They return with their latest long-player 'Midnight Cometh' out on 20th May 2016 - and first on Ripple Music - that features 6 tracks that entrenches their signature sound beyond 2014's The Conjuring (review here). As firm favourites over here at Heavy Planet, Wo Fat's records have regularly been featured in 'top album of the year' review posts... so it's safe to say our collective expectation has been set pretty high in recent years... Have I just jinxed it?

Well, whoever hears the first 30 seconds of opener 'There's Something Sinister In The Wind' and is not stomping their feet, has cold blood in their veins. This record grabs you by the balls from the outset and there’s little let-up. The first two tracks are a frenetic 'Friday night' groove before stepping off the gas for the more expansive and standout track 'Of Smoke And Fog', clocking in at over 11 minutes, but who's counting? Album closer “Nightcomer’ is a majestic mid-tempo groove that slinks like a desert snake, with a sneaky sting in the tail as the record combusts in on itself only drowned out by your screams of MORE MORE!! There are huge moments peppered throughout this record that surprise you which you only pick up on further listens, that compels you to hit the repeat button. And rising those waves of tempo throughout the record never feels self-indulgent on the bands part - just great riffs that get you high and bring you down again. You can already hear how ‘Riffborn’ and ‘Three Minutes To Midnight’ will be making their way straight into Wo Fat's live sets.

Production-wise Midnight Cometh is everything we've come to expect from a WoFat record - ear bleeding levels of fuzz, sweat-drenched Bluesy lead guitar, relentlessly pounding drums, and riffs for days. Is there a greater guitar virtuoso than Kent Stump in the stoner rock world right now? Wo Fat have certainly honed their craft over a six album career to today where the band are embarking on a second European tour that includes appearances at Desertfest (London, UK) and Hellfest (Clisson, France).

The band and album are epitomized by the lyric on Riffborn - ‘We live by the old ways, we know what came before. Build ourselves a purple haze. We are the Riffborn’ - and it's a statement of intent which holds true throughout. Wo Fat are a melting pot of influences, taking the best bits from the stoner rock pantheon through the ages and melding them together to forge their own style. They continue to work their voodoo, keeping us captivated under their sonic spell. You need this record in your collection...

Order the album | Like on Facebook | Band Website

Band Submission: Grenadeers-Desert Rock From Amsterdam

By Rob Billy Kooymans

Band Name: Grenadeers
Genre: Desert Rock
Location: Amsterdam
Brief Bio/Description: Grenadeers consists of six men with love for anything raw. Or in their own words: “Our take on rock ’n roll sounds like the love baby of Robert Fripp and Josh Homme playing in an empty trashcan in a deserted alley of old town Sin City, while he’s doing just fine.” With no less than three guitarists, the band tends to play angular riffs which contrast sharply with the dragging vocals from front man Siep van Rijswijk. Their debut EP has been mixed by none other than Alain Johannes (Queens Of The Stone Age / Them Crooked Vultures) and will be released in September 2016.
Band Members:
Siep van Rijswijk - Vocals
Guy Pek - Drums
Stijn van Rijsbergen - Guitar
Vincent Sibum - Guitar
Leon Sibum - Guitar
Bronco Kuijt Bass
Links: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | YouTube | Bandsintown 

Song of the Day - Rhin - "Clay"

I stumbled across this beauty just cruising through bandcamp.com. It slams your head into a heavy stoner wall from the first lick of the opening riff and never lets up. Cleverly crafted and passionately executed this song is the only one released for digital consumption by Grimoire Records. Pre-orders for the vinyl LP are available, however. If this song is any indication the LP should be a treasure trove of joyous jams.

bandcamp / facebook

Song of the Day-Palm Desert-"Shoutstone"

"Shoutstone" is one of 4 new songs off of the re-release of "Adayoff + 4 Songs". The album was originally released in 2013 but the band is set to release it as a limited edition Blood Red vinyl on or around November 30, 2015 via HeviSike Records. This song is a great addition to an already stellar release. It expands upon the groove heavy desert rock riffage that has made Palm Desert a top notch imprint on the Stoner Rock scene. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Monocluster-"Dante's Inferno"

"Dante's Inferno" is taken from the self-titled EP which is currently available to download digitally on Bandcamp. This song, primarily sung in the band's native German tongue, is a full-on celebration of desert rock tones mixed with heavy blues riffs, soft psychedelic dynamics and a touch of grunge. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Sahara Surfers-"Traces"

"Traces" is taken off of the compelling third full-length release "High Lands" from Sahara Surfers. This explosive song features the ever beautiful and relaxed vocal of Julia Überbacher surrounded by a whirlwind of frenetic drumming and desert rock groove.  If you have not heard this band yet, there is no better time than now as they are offering this new album for a "name your price" on Bandcamp. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Red Mountains-"Six Hands"

"Six Hands" is off of the upcoming debut full-length "Down With the Sun" due out tomorrow. The album is sure to please those with an appetite for psyche-tinged desert rock with monstrous riffing and stellar vocals. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

New Band To Burn One To: SZIKES

We have some Serbian instrumental stoner/desert rock to light one up to today as the Vojvodina four piece (Akos, Karesz, Pedja, and Tamas) have just unleashed their self-titled debut, with five tracks of blistering instrumental that should be found somewhere in the deep outback of Palm Springs, not necessarily from a place in Eastern Europe. But who cares about location? So long as the music rocks then it’s all great in our book, and SZIKES do indeed rock, as they slowly burn the candle away as their psychedelic leanings build and dwell the bands' sound before crashing in with heavy swathes of stoner excellence.

 We might have trouble pronouncing their names and song titles, but the sound of SZIKES is one we’re going to be keeping a joyous ear on for a while. Gnarly artwork too!

Facebook|Bandcamp

LP Review: 'Atala' by Atala

Atala's form of stoner rock has definitely fallen on the heavier side of the musical spectrum, and this, their debut release is a scatter-shot collection of different styles which hone in on a strong, overriding mood akin at times to Tool with the assertive desert rock like pace of Kyuss. It pays off. 'Broken Glass' is a pummeling, riff-charge of a track that opens the album with a screeching - if somewhat restrained guitar solo - before 'Cuts Run Deep' settles into the aggressive groove that defines the band's sound. 'Seas of Fear' trudges along at a doom-like pace, providing an instrumental release from the tortured vocals attacking from all channels. The most surprising addition to the Atala is the ability to redefine their sound track-to-track, as 'Labyrinth of the Mind' is testament to with its Black Sabbath-esque riffs and t solid guitar work.

Atala are impossible to nail down and this impressively enjoyable.

 website|facebook

Brant Bjork: The Heavy Planet Interview

Through all the fuzz and beneath all the sand, Brant Bjork gives his strongest nod to his punk roots. You'd struggle to find a more impressive synopsis of work than his, from the dusty origins of Kyuss through his Low Desert Punk Band's debut, Black Power Flower. For the better part of three decades, Bjork has ceaselessly crafted innumerable landmark sounds of a species of rock music he helped to create. Outlining the measure of his influence and the magnitude of his contribution to stoner rock would require more than a write-up on a blog.

Heavy Planet recently chewed a little fat with Bjork, touching on his new band of buds, his inner punk, and the status of his various projects. Hell, he even offers an explanation on why some desert folks use meth.

Heavy Planet: Black Power Flower is being released this month. It seems meatier, it's got a different vibe than some of the other stuff you've done. It seems like there's a throwback element to it.

Brant Bjork: Yeah, there's a return on this record, for sure. I've kinda gone back to my primal, more adolescent root as a musician. I think I've full-on returned to the simplicity of my primal love for rock music. Simple and easy sometimes get confused, because it wasn't exactly an easy task. But I really wanted to get away from... sometimes when you play music and make as many records as I have over the years, you start to over-intellectualize something that's really simple and pure and primal. So this is a record to return to a place where it was just, like I said, primal and pure.

HP: About that title, there are a couple different ways to interpret it. What's your take?

BB: It depends. Like you said, there's many ways you can interpret it. It could be literal, it could be metaphorical, it can be symbolical. I like the concept of combining words, just from a wordsmith perspective. Like I said a minute ago, not trying to over-intellectualize what it means. Symbolically, I think it represents consciousness and awareness. In a more literal sense, my biological parents... My mother was a white hippie and my dad was a black power guy. It's literal in that sense, in terms of who Brant Bjork really is at the core of my being, my DNA. Those things combining... My music is biracial because I'm biracial. Throughout my career, I've consistently worked with that the way someone like Phil Lynott would work with it. I hear that in his music with Thin Lizzy. It's constantly a bridging of this gap, of these two bloods, and making sense of it. Also, it's just punk rock, y'know? This is my punk rock record. Punk rock is my root. This is my punk rock band and I wanna just throw shit out there that makes people move around and figure shit out. Push some buttons.

HP: What's the chemistry like between you, Dave, Bubba, and Tony?

BB: The chemistry began before we started playing music. Conceptually, to get back to that beautiful, innocent place after many years of playing music with various people and various situations I've come to accept the fact that it's important to play music with people that are down with each other, they're on the same page as human beings. The chemistry starts there. If you can hang out in a room and have a beer together and laugh and bullshit and have fun, that's going to carry over into the musicianship. So the chemistry begins before the music. And these guys are my friends. I grew up with Tony in the desert, I've known Dave for twenty years, we've been dearest friends. Bubba is a guy I've known for years. He's always been super down-to-earth and cool and I've always been a fan of his guitar playing. So I deliberately assembled a group of guys where there was vibe before we even picked up our instruments.

HP: You've been doing this since you were a kid. You've been writing, performing, recording... What's been most important in your success as a musician?

BB: What's been most important is what's happening right now. I look at this record as a return, kind of a full circle. I also feel it's a record you can only graduate to if you survive and last this long in the business. Therefore it's a real important record for me. I think it's my most important accomplishment because it's the result of many, many years of discovering and learning and exploring. Victories and failures, all that stuff. I feel really excited about it.

HP: You guys were in Australia, Europe, you did some dates out West. How's the new material being received? Around the world and across continents, what's been the response?

BB: Well, this music is live music. It was written and executed live in the studio. It's music to be performed live as much as it is to be listened to on another source as a recording. In all honesty, I was really shocked at how fast people responded to the new material, enthusiastically and almost participated with it. It was kind of shocking, especially since none of these people were familiar with the tracks. We made a point early-on to get onstage and start playing the new material even though the record wasn't coming out yet. Together we decided that we wanted to jump straight into a new trip, The Low Desert Punk Band. Like, "Let's get this punk rock goin'!" And even in Europe it was pretty amazing. You would've thought they'd already heard the record, it was pretty amazing.

HP: You guys taking it out again, anything in the works?

BB: Absolutely. I feel that we haven't even begun to tour to support the record. I feel like we were just exercising a new band, gettin' the band out on the road. Gettin' the live chemistry working, gettin' the fans back in the house and excited about a return to doin' my own thing. We've got new action happening. It's all about that. Now we've got shit on the stove and it's cookin'. I think when the record drops next week, we've already got plans next year to go out and support the record specifically. That'll be another adventure.

HP: You guys comin' out to the Midwest at all?

BB: Yeah, absolutely. I love the Midwest. For me, it's probably the best part of the states in terms of what we're doin' and having people come out and participate. So the plan is definitely to go out and hit the East Coast and the Midwest together at some point.

HP: You're pretty well cemented as a notable pioneer in the stoner rock, desert rock scene, whatever you wanna call it. Where do you see the state of that now in terms of what you're involved with and other bands. What's your take on the whole scene as it stands right now?

BB: That's an interesting question. Really, when I think about it, it's hard to understand the mechanics of the scene when you're kind of in the eye of the storm. So I really don't know. And it might not be for me to even know. I don't fully know what stoner rock is, and in some ways I wonder if I've ever known what it is. Stoner rock, for me, didn't exist when I was comin' up as a musician in what we were doing. For me, I was a stoner and I smoked pot for many reasons. Some of 'em didn't have anything to do with music. But I also loved music and I loved listening to records and going out and seeing my friends' bands play. And when I was at home I would smoke a joint and it was a way for me to get more meditative with a particular record. I would listen to that record deeper and I would hear it in a way that I'd never heard the record before, even if I'd heard the record a hundred times. So I took that into the music I was creating and the records that I was helping to create with Kyuss. That was kind of part of what I was bringing to it. So this whole stoner rock thing has become the name of a genre. But I don't know if these people even smoke pot, do they even care about smokin' weed? Is that even part of it? [laughs.] I don't know what stoner rock really is or means or how deep it goes. And as a scene, it eludes me. And desert rock, that was just something we called ourselves almost half-kidding because we were from the desert. And back then, the desert was a fuckin' trippy place that no one wanted to go to. [laughs.] So it's hard for me to say. In terms of rock music, for me, stoner rock and desert rock is synonymous with non-commercial rock music. I think rock music is really healthy right now. When I travel, I see a genuine excitement in the world right now. People still pick up instruments and get big, loud amplifiers and make loud rock music. I think people are excited about that and on some level they need it. I see a new generation of kids, it's cyclical, man. I think every ten to twenty years there's a whole generation of kids that are discovering it. And with the modernity of what's happening in the world now, kids need something tangible. They need something that pushes them around, they need something that scares them. They need something that they can hold and fear. I think rock music is doing that for a new generation.

HP: It seems you have such a connection with the desert and the Earth. It's strong and transcendent. What's your connection with the desert independent of the music?

BB: I like that you asked that, "independent of music," because that's really where it starts, right? In planetary terms, it's my planet. I come from Planet Desert. It's just my environment, it's my ecosystem, it's my life force. It's big space, time stands still. It's hot weather. Seasons are really shot. It's hot, it's cold, it's not complicated. The terrain is rough and it's mean. It's pretty intense. The beauty is equal. And it's a meditative place. For brain-trippers like myself, it really caters to us and is kind to us. It forces meditation on some level, it mellows you out. The drug of the desert is methamphetamine. I think it's because people freak out on the meditation out here. [laughs.] They don't wanna be sedated by the environment, so they do a stimulant so they can get up and make shit happen in their lives. I never participated in it, but I can totally understand why people do. That's my environment, that's just where I come from. Then you throw in Southern California culture; skateboarding, punk rock, BMX, Motocross, and all these things that we grew up with. A peacocking, if you will, of Southern California, the big Hispanic, Mexican, Chicano culture and low-riding. All that stuff, it's all out here too. So you just wrap that up, give a kid a joint and a Jimi Hendrix record and all of a sudden it starts happening.

HP: You're so proficient, you're always doing something. Whether it's Kyuss, Fu Manchu, your solo stuff, - the Bros, - the Operators, and now the Low Desert Punk Band. This Jacuzzi project, is it gonna see daylight anytime soon?

BB: Daylight, yes. Anytime soon, I don't know. It's all about time management for me, especially now that I'm married and have kids. So I've gotta really work on my time management, which is something I was lucky enough to have discovered early on, that it was important for me to execute what I do. And let's face it, there's only so much time in the day, only so many days in the week. I've gotta pick my battles. Jacuzzi is one of my most talked-about records and I've never even put it out, which is kind of interesting to me. I'm kind of enjoying it, though, because it's almost forcing me to not rush to put it out because I'm kind of letting this thing build. But really it's the result of getting back together with John and Nick and putting Kyuss back together, which was obviously consuming all my time. And right before that adventure took off was when I was tying up the loose ends of that session. So it kind of just sat on the shelf. I had no formal way of putting the record out back then anyway. No design, I didn't have a plan. It was a record that I just started recording, it was a knee-jerk while I was in the studio. But I really dig the record and I would like to get it out. I've got super-solid management these days and pretty much need to sit down with them and design an appropriate plan to put it out. That'll probably just involve timing. We'll see.

HP: I could watch Sabbia over and over. I could watch it without the sound, I could listen to the sound without the visual. It was such a cool project. Do you ever see yourself doing anything like that again in the future?

BB: Yeah, I would love to return to that situation. Back then, that was a combination of people having the right tools to do something at the right time to pursue it. I haven't been lucky enough to have those planets align, but I'm sure glad when they did align back in the day we were able to take notice of it and motivate, create, and release. It was a lot of fun and it was exactly what we aimed to do. As far as doing it again, I would love to. Next to music, my other passion is film and soundtracks and movies in general. I would love to get deeper into that. Actually, maybe even work on a full movie with dialog, screenplay, music. That'd be the ultimate.

HP: Peace was incredible. The record made a statement and seemed to establish you guys (Vista Chino) as a cornerstone act. Then Nick comes out and says "it's over." Is it?

BB: [laughs.] I don't know. Nothing's really over, is it? We could say the same thing about the whole Kyuss adventure, Kyuss Lives! and all that. If there was any one thing that we had all kind of discovered and established simultaneously, it's that nothing is over. So having said that, I look at Vista Chino as just another word describing this adventure that started a long time ago. And it'll probably just keep rolling down the road. But metaphorically, I see Vista Chino as a car that we parked for a while because we have to go do other things.

HP: Finally, be honest; what's one question you hate being asked in an interview?

BB: [laughs.] That's a funny question. I really hate it when people ask me what my favorite song or favorite record is that I've done. It's like asking "What's your favorite kid? Your son or your daughter?" It just doesn't make sense. I understand. I don't lose sleep over it because not everyone makes records and not everyone writes and records songs. But for me, it's a question that's just such a waste of time because I couldn't possibly tell you. I don't have a favorite, y'know?

I guess I don't either, man. Black Power Flower is available in the U.S. on 11/18. 

Buy it! | Facebook | Tour | Twitter | Instagram

Red Stoner Sun - "Echo Return"

Topographical maps may tell you that there are no deserts in Germany but Red Stoner Sun are here to prove otherwise. On their latest release, Echo Return, the Berlin trio pitch a tent revival of early Queens of the Stone Age robot rock. A lazy hypnotic beat and feedback shimmer establish the atmospherics early on album opener "Tokon Shira (reprise)" but the vibes quickly darken as the track's bludgeoning riff staggers forward with the unwavering advance of a man with murderous intent.  "Horsemachine" shifts it up a couple of gears, punctuated with staccato bursts before climaxing in an orgiastic solo. The heavy riffery continues on fast and furious pounder "Poncho" and the eminently crunchy "Mr. Brown", whose robotic chords could have been penned by Josh Homme himself.

A supremely experimental psychedelic vibe pervades most of Echo Return, from fuzzy instrumental "Rockwell Six" to stoner groove-a-rama "Sizzleman", the latter showcasing singer/guitarist Marceese' laconic vocal delivery, conjuring up the ghost of Lou Reed. Perhaps the most sublime track on the album though is "Alone 25".  a funky wah-wah drenched strutter.  Hell you can practically feel yourself cruising through the desert with the top down and the stereo cranked, heading out to the generators on the horizon.  It all culminates in "Smoke.76", an epic freakout with a decidedly spooky ambience created by both its snaky middle-eastern riff and diabolically distorted vocalizations.  If you're really stoned it sounds as if Beelzebub himself is communicating directly to you through the speakers, commanding you what to do... which is probably listen to more Red Stoner Sun.

facebook|bandcamp

New Band To Burn One To: Piloto Automático

HEAVY PLANET PRESENTS...

Piloto Automático!

BAND BIO:

Four ordinary guys, working at daily jobs and studying at University join forces to give birth to an unpretentious musical project under the name Piloto Automático. With its roots punk coming from the stoner / punk rock - both in sound and in DIY punk rock ethos - Pedro Assis (drums and percussion), Tomaz Jr (guitar, lap steel, vocals), Alfredo Garcia (bass and vocals) and Rangel Zurk (guitar and vocals), in the year 2013, prepare the first flight of their spacecraft: the first self-titled EP "Piloto Automático".

There are five songs that recall the band's diverse influences. Thus, on this record you’ve got in your hands a compendium of Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Brant Bjork, Kyuss, Desert Sessions, Zefirina Bomba, Pixies, Queens of the Stone Age, Sonic Youth, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Melvins, 1960/1970 garage rock, desert landscapes of the Brazilian Northeast countryside, automotive etc. Depicting themes in their lyrics such as loneliness and mystery ("Estrada Deserta"), addictions ("Una Ranchera Romantica"), the hustle and bustle of everyday life ("Tudo"), travel through the desert stoner ("Mais Um Morto No Deserto ") and more addictions (" Coma ").

The release of this EP will come along with the official music video for "Estrada Deserta", which was recorded in the countryside of Pernambuco state in the towns of Ameixas, Bezerros and Feira Nova. Everything filmed, produced and edited by the band members.

THOUGHTS:
"Music is truly the universal language and is evidenced throughout the latest self-titled EP from Piloto Automático. The EP is laced with an abundance of sun-drenched riffs and seething grooves. As the bio suggests, the bands influences range from the desert rock of Queens of the Stone Age to the trippy psych-laden vibe of the sixties and can be heard throughout this masterfully played EP. From the machine gun rhythm of "Estrada Deserta" to the jaw-dropping barrage of  "Mias um Morto no Deserto", you will be pleasantly surprised by the bands penchant for melody and for sticking to their guns by singing lyrics in their native tongue. This EP is solid and one that you should not pass up!
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LP Review - Los Asteroide S/T

Los Asteroide, from Buenos Aires, are 3 psychedelic amigos that play instrumental workouts loaded with truly inspired desert style riffs and impressive tripped out space-prog in a similar vein to Colour Haze, Naam and Causa Sui.

This, their first and self titled LP opens with a 12:55 heavy psychedelic jam that showcases Los Asteroide's multi-dimensional and perfectly delivered instrumentalism brilliantly and is by far the longest track on the whole album. "Houston tenemos un problema" begins with moon landing samples and spaced out ambiance which sets the stage well for the LP with the remaining tracks carrying on the exploratory and experimental feel to the sound Los Asteroide make. When the riffs come they are hugely satisfying with an unfolding and morphing of the desert style fuzz as the track moves along joined by a guitar lick that quite simply slays. Even though the track is long it really doesn't feel like it and by the end I was begging to hear more. Thankfully there are another 8 tracks of this heavily grooved space-rock to lose myself in and I wasn't disappointed to hear even more excellent riffs and thoroughly slaying guitar licks that just keep on coming throughout the entire album making this self-titled from Los Asteroide a very enjoyable listening experience and a must have release for fans of psychedelic desert/stoner space-rock.

Get it from their Bandcamp now!

FACEBOOK // BANDCAMP

New Band To Burn One To: WEEDPECKER

HEAVY PLANET presents...WEEDPECKER!

BAND BIO:

The band was started in 2011 by the Dobry brothers, both taking guitar duties. At the end of the year Pan Falon joined the band, who also plays drums for Belzebong. The trio released their demo in 2012, still without a bassist. At the end of the year Jose finally joined the band as bassist, a Spanish musician who also played before in bands like Looking For An Answer and Antigama. In April 2013 this formation (Piotr, Bartek, Falon and Jose) started recording material for their first album and performed live first time supporting Americans Elder in Warsaw. Their album will be released in July 2013.

THOUGHTS:
"Amongst the heavy grunge rumblings lies a savage serpent waiting to strike. Filled with a plethora of doom-laden riffs, the soft psychedelic tones swirl through the desert wind as it kicks up a huge tumbleweed aiming to bull you over. This group of fine musicians from Poland aptly named Weedpecker for obvious reasons, seamlessly fuse elements of grunge and desert rock to a background of delicate groove and heavy riffing. Currently, the band has released a demo in 2012 and is set to release a full-length sometime in July 2013. Until then, the current single featured above is streaming on their Bandcamp page. If the rest of the album is as good if not better than these two songs, it may have catapulted to my top releases of 2013. The artwork is pretty killer as well. Stay tuned..."
((facebook||bandcamp))

New Band To Burn One To: PAISSANO

HEAVY PLANET presents...PAISSANO!

BAND BIO:

Paissano es una banda de Ituzaingó zona Oeste de Bs. As, Argentina.
Formada en 2009 por Pablo, Mariano, Lucas, y Gustavo. Con un Rock pesado, stoner, psicodélico y unos toques grunge, fueron mezclando bases sólidas, con riff potentes, violentos y sumamente efectivos.

Biografía en Inglés, amigo:

Paissano is a band from Ituzaingó, West area of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Formed in 2009 by Pablo, Mariano, Lucas, and Gustavo. With heavy rock, stoner, psychedelic, and grunge touches we're mixing solid foundations with powerful riffs; violent and highly effective.

THOUGHTS:

"How 'bout a little fuzz, Scarecrow? These four Argentinians slap it on thick and immerse listeners in layers of desert sand and cinquefoil clouds of smoke via riffs, repetition, and long-drawn grooves. Stoner sensibilities evolve into trippy guitar tautologies and swampy stompers with the smoothest of transitions and the haziest of influences. Opening on the quick-footed dune bugger La Previa Imaginacion a la Explosion, Paissano keep tight hold on the stick shift as Cerveza Quilmes saturates the backseat. The buzz balances the smooth crunch from start to finish, while tracks like Ali Baba and the sludge-soaked Vienen Marchando hold as much stomp as they do swagger. These ten songs spit enough dusty clout to make you forget that you don't know a lick o' Spanish. Check out Paissano's bandcamp page and set the dial to eleven. Oh, and this self-titled is hardly their first rodeo. Dig back into their catalog and hit the road. ¡Este sonido es sabroso!"

((Bandcamp | Facebook | Pure Volume))

Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Captain Crimson - "Dancing Madly Backwards" / Supergoddess - "Join the Ride"

Today we play it loud by offering up two very excellent albums of fuzz friendly rock and roll, datelines Orebro, Sweden and Munich, Germany. Both bands have their own distinct, unique, original style that blends in smoothly with the wave of rock and roll that both hearkens to the greatness of the seventies guitar gods and incorporates the innovative, gifted artistry that defines stoner/doom/psych rock of the new century. It's a heavy planet populated by many tremendous musicians and billions who love to listen to them. As one of those billion that appreciates good music please check out our friends from Europe who provide beautiful offerings of down tuned deviltry.

SUPERGODDESS - "Join the Ride"

Hailing from Munich, Germany, Supergoddess have been around since 2009 when Toby Amaro and Seb Leone, one sporting a guitar the other a bass, founded the band after playing around together for awhile, inspired by the history of Toby's home town of Landsberg am Lech, where G.I. Johnny Cash first put together a band of his own. After 3 years of playing together and adding the final two pieces to the Supergoddess puzzle with the gifted guitartist Moe Cassidy and the superb drummer Ivy Moore, the first album, "Join the Ride", a blues and boogie infested romp of fun and energy, was released, displaying hints of that long ago band founded by G.I. Cash.

Supergoddess display a unique proclivity for playing music that is bright and joyful, shedding tons of scorching bright and white hot rays of musical energy with a deftness and pleasure that is addictive and immensely pleasurable. The guitars are loud and strong, distorted and loose to just the right level of fuzziness, while the bass thumps hard and the drums punch true.

A couple of the most notable tracks include the song "Green and Gold", an up tempo, down tuned rocker that plays well cruisin' down the highway or cranked to the max in you favorite dark, sudsy tavern. The hottest track on the album kick starts it all off from position #1, "Cast Your Spell", a voodoo spell of a song that pretty much delivers as advertised, casting a great cantrap of guitar magic, of boogie and heat, cranking out a measured and mighty riff laden rock bomb that will have you stompin' and jumpin', bangin' and twangin' along with Moe's superb guitar work and Toby's raspy vocals. The fun continues down the track list, culminating in the searing heat of "You Could Have Told Me (I Was Stepping on a Voodoo Doll)", where the boogie intensifies, and the riffs explode along with accompaniment from Toby's adept and audacious harmonica, and the sharp driving punches of Ivy's drumwork.

All in all, Supergoddess provide some furious fun on their debut album.



Supergoddess have a series of behind the scenes videos on YouTube for the making of the "Join the Ride" album. While some of it is in German and some in English I suspect they can be enjoyed by one and all.



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CAPTAIN CRIMSON - "Dancing Madly Backwards"

The great music of the seventies, the stuff that evolved from a myriad of sources and beginnings into perhaps the greatest musical era of all time, is fully and reverently evoked on Captain Crimson's "Dancing Madly Backwards". The album's name is even derivative of that great time, allegedly taken from a song by the great seventies band Captain Beyond. Listening to this album will take you back to those days of dropping vinyl and eliciting huge, amplified magic from the tiny needle interface, to a time of incense and bell bottoms, of long hair and longer sideburns, of music that offered an incredible amount of enjoyment by producing sounds and experiences that brought forth the very essence of your core being, evoking a primordial rhythm that reverberated through the cables of your being.

The joy and energy experienced by the members of Captain Crimson can be seen in the way they play, with high energy and unbelievable dexterity. It can also be seen in the incredible songs they have put together for "Dancing Madly Backwards", a collection of highly intelligent music in which each track is bursting with hundreds of forays, ditties, riffs, solos, and jazz-like runs, all intertwined on top of and blended within precisely measured melodies of grace and skill. You can run through these songs a hundred times, enjoying each and every time through, and discover something new and clever each time, something that fits just perfectly and is a glorious revelation that evokes wonder and delight upon discovery.

This music has a lot to offer, fitting neatly into a number of categories . . . seventies derivative rock, heavy rock, stoner or doom rock, psychedelic rock, high desert music, guitar heavy rock, jazz like heavy rock . . . you name it, this rock and roll collection seems to have it, and what it has, in any category, is a uniquely high level offering of some of the finest music you are likely to come across . . . well at least in one day, until tomorrow's Heavy Planet Sunday Sludge. But this album is a keeper, something you will likely want to add to your personal collection so you can play it as you are rockin' down the highway, or whenever great rock is needed.

There are 9 songs on this album and each one of them is a candidate for favorite track. To me it's a hallmark of talent when an artist is able to remain within a style or genre, playing what is familiar, yet still able to conjure something new within those developed and established confines. That is true genius, because that is often the hardest thing to see . . . something new within what has already been done. So, creating 9 tracks that each fit nicely into the style established by the very first song and each one sounding fresh and exciting is a quality of note, a quality that Captain Crimson display with obvious enjoyment.

Captain Crimson, hailing from Örebro, Sweden, includes members:
Andreas Eriksson - guitars
Mikael Läth - drums
Anders Tallfors - bass guitar
Stefan Norѐn - guitars, vocals





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Album Review: Mother Corona - "Out of the Dust"

Early rock and roll of Fifties America influenced the youth of Britain who eventually overwhelmed the music world themselves with the British Invasion of the sixties, inundating radio waves and album sales with new, fresh, exciting music that was a forerunner of massive change in the worldwide culture of man. The British Invasion’s music legacy still rings loud and clear today as music from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and so many others can still be enjoyed as everlasting masterpieces. But the seeds were sewn with the tremendous music of 50s America, music that begat change, inspired a generation, and lit the ignition to a musical explosion of incalculable proportions spanning continents and generations.

There are plenty of indications, most notably in the number of bands now in the UK playing variations of stoner, doom, and psychedelia, that select American rock music from the 70s and the 90s has sewn its own seeds, adding to a groundswell across the pond that is just now beginning to burgeon into something significant, something hopefully steadfast and powerful, something that can add to a worldwide development of the ‘good stuff’, music that is real, enjoyable, massive, that has taken the essence of those two rock eras and suffused it with newness, creativity, and sheer volume of both decibels and choice selection. No place represents that uprising better than the warrior islands of the UK where a large number of bands are creating, playing, and producing music that is the sole reason rock n’ roll has not yet died a death of ennui brought about by the decadence of a single controlling voice for what gets played to the masses.

Today’s spotlight falls on one of the highlights of the stoner/psychedlic groundswell with the superb band Mother Corona, who this past April released their first full length LP, “Out of the Dust”. The band consists of Lee Cressey on guitar, Rob Glen on bass, and Dave Oglesby on drums and vocals, a three piece band that creates a whole lot of magic without a whole lot of help. I suspect one of the keys to their beautiful renditions is the simplification in instrumentation, a formula most bands follow whose music makes its way to our site, keeping the music simple, clean, and raw, where distortion is in the amplification of one guitar, where the frequencies aren’t over-mixed to confusion, and nothing gets drowned out by over-instrumentation.

Mother Corona plays stoner music to the maximum, incorporating the very best of the low frequency, fuzzy distortion that is the hallmark of the genre. They incorporate quite a bit of Dozer in the way they structure their music, the best Dozer stuff, the “Coming Down the Mountain” Dozer. The “Trail of a Comet” and “Madre de Dios” Dozer. There’s quite a bit of Firestone, Truckfighters, and early Freedom Hawk in there as well, not to mention some Astroqueen. What they really sound similar to, which is a great thing, are their fellow UK upstarts Steak, Enos, and Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight. Make no mistake, though, these guys carve out their own superb, face stomping, diesel fuel burning inter-continental ballistic mayhem filled with huge, powerful, balls to the wall sound that drives hard and deep without relent.

These guys have been kicking it around since 2006, trouping down the same roads as their warrior isle compatriots, building up a grassroots following by playing in bars and taverns with the occasional gig opening for better known acts that weren’t better acts. This is the typical story. What’s not typical is their music. While it is derivative, it is also unique, a result hard to engineer to say the least. Their music sounds like what you love while not being a copy of anything else you’ve ever heard. Oglesby’s vocals are reminiscent mostly of Alice in Chain’s Layne Staley, but are uniquely suited to Mother Corona’s loud and abusive music, setting the tone perfectly on each song and carrying its weight in instrumentation throughout. At the same time for Mr. Oglesby the drumwork is mighty and fierce, doing more than the typical requirement of keeping the time by relentlessly driving the music forward with panache and heart. Rob Glen’s bass adds a stout component to the melodies and pace of the music with a thunderous, raucous, and raunchy delivery filled with passion and skill. The guitar of Lee Cressey is adept, masterful, wonderful, and wild. He takes it places that induce wonderment and deep satisfaction, plunging into the darkest depths of distortion and soaring to the heights of psychedelic stratospheres. Blended together these 4 instruments deftly and expertly rendered by the 3 musicians of Mother Corona combine to form some of the finest stoner/psych music of a generation.

The six minute track “Hedonist King” starts off the album and immediately sets the tone with some trippy guitar to go along with the energetic drums of the opening seconds. Vocals become a focal point quickly into this funky, fun tune where “ . . . dancing in the rain, drinking in the sun . . . “ sets the tone for a hedonistic trip replete with groovy riffs, head swinging bass, and chunky, heart pounding drums, overlaid with sing along vocal decadence.

“Sunscope” brings the fuzz, hot and heavy, relentlessly rendered by both guitars in a display of power, with primeval solos delivering long, satisfying salvos of chest thumping dynamism in over five minutes of a superb specimen of stoner rock music.

The third track gets to showcase an opening with strictly bass and light, acid induced guitar work dancing above, along with a bit of cymbal spangle to accentuate the deep distortion that is strictly a setup for the booster engine explosion that becomes “Sonic Tomb”. The pace is fast, the effort is maximal, and the sound is deep and brutal.The listener becomes the poor ringer slated to fight the champ and gets round after round of constant jabs and right hooks, each heavier and more fierce than the last, relentless in delivery, and somehow beautiful in ferocity.

“Cosmic Collisions” at number four comes in at seven and a half minutes of deep, dark, distortion, low, slow, heaviness pouring through every crack and crevice until you are filled to the brim with big chunks of fuzz. Steady all the way through but overlaid with cloudy riffs and foghorn guitar solos, this song is the megaton meteorite from space that has punched a hole in the atmosphere before cratering the landscape with its sonic boom of distortion.

Track 5, “Qualuude 74’ “ is another low, slow fuzzbomb with a beautiful tempo within each stanza that leads into chainsaw choruses before giving way to a series of skillfully rendered solos, along with athletic and powerful bass riffs, and finally leading into a final but urgent stanza and chorus set. The lyrics are a longing for an old favorite in recreational mind and mood alteration, qualuudes, a prescription medication no longer available but fondly remembered for its effects.

“V.A.G.” gets my vote for favorite song. Not necessarily best, because they are all superb, buy my favorite nonetheless. It has a classic tempo, upbeat and pure enjoyment, striking that primal, tribal chord that triggers movement from deep down, exploding outward in a shiver of sparks and energy. It is a short treatment but packs a mighty wallop of fuzz and fun. It is primarily an instrumental with a short vocal set brimming with intense delivery. Riffs and solos abound, drums are intense and insistent, the bass as primal as the rhythm.

Number 7, “Nuclear Winter”, is an eight minute treasure that strikes a chord somewhere between nostalgia and yearning, conjuring all the best music of eras gone by while promising the best of what’s to come. This song leans toward the psychedelic with a trippy trek that meanders through the minstrel waters of early seventies Steppenwolf while towing high tech equipment utilized to the max by the guitar solos of Lee Cressey, rhythmically driven forward by the scull-like strokes of Oglesby’s sticks as he croons beautifully that it’s “ . . . oh so cold . . . “ Perhaps this is the best song on the album, no one would argue the point I’m sure.

The title track is number 8, an up tempo fuzz bomb that sets a livlier tone than the majority of the songs on the album while still unleashing furious and heavy nap and pile gutiar work. The song ends at about the 4 minute mark, but leads into a hidden jewel after 2 minutes of silence. After the 6 minute mark Mother Corona lay down a beautifully rendered ode to the fathers of stoner metal and fuzz rock music, Black Sabbath, by playing “Into the Void”. It’s not Ozzy and Tommy, but Dave, Lee, and Rob do a superb job of covering the song, putting as much into it as they do their own stuff, which is a considerable tribute from a trio of musicians that play music at its best to one of rock’s biggest legends who can certainly be considered as one of the all time best.

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Album Review : Arc of Ascent - The Higher Key

As the turbulent summer swells leave cancerous marks on your outer epidermis, you detect a pungent odor seeping from your local airport. Left doob-less in your parking lot by your friends who forgot to menton they gave away your plane ticket to roadburn, you stare with empty eyes down at the pavement, noticing the familiar stench creeping ever closer. To your surprise, a rental van careens its way towards you. Inside that vehicle are some grungy looking folks with off-accents asking you directions to St. Vitus in the city to catch a show. Gripping your chest, you realize these tokers are toting a mess of equipment- and are clearly none-other than New Zealand psychedelic metal trio Arc of Ascent.

Of course this anecdote would be awesome if true- however, what steals more of one's breath is this group's newest record The Higher Key is a great surmising of 90s stoner staples. Ominous, pervasive, continuous riffs are the tides upon which this album floats- a smashing, burning homage to the likes of Sleep, Kyuss, and Electric Wizard.

Track 1 : "The Celestial Altar"

This tune hits it straight off with a singular unifying riff. The riff plods on with the drums kicking in and whirring until Garcia-esque vocals swimming from bassist/vocalist Craig Williamson's neck wires. The turbulent first tune dirges on till whirring into a confident guitar solo courtesy of guitarist Sandy Schaare. What's groovy about this is that there is no underlying rhythm track occurring during the solo, however Craig manages to hold it down without the mix sounding weak.

Track 2 : "Land of Tides"

Hello Desert ROCK!

This tune slips us upside the head with cuts that Josh Homme could have saved in a vault for years. From the whirring melodic repetition of the initial riff, to the dissonant modal riffage of the chorus- these guys know their doom. This tune roars on forward in typical Verse Chorus fashion until the slinky bluesy guitar face melting returns. There are a couple times when the pace stiffens and pushes forward, however, the tune once hitting the guitar solo is a straight shot to the end.

Track 3: "Search for Liberation"

Here's one you Monster Magnet/Hawkwind fans will dig. A repeating washed out guitar line harps for a time with swelled simple melodies coming from the vocals. These wanes and fades into special effects land are made more apparent with flurries of heavily distorted minor variations on the key. Slow and burgensome, the song keeps pace with its dynamic peaks until halfway through when we see a distinctive shift in riff to something a little more electric wizard approved. The best part of this tune is how much the band makes use of dynamics to build into the heavier sections than consecutively crush you with spaced out madness. Dig it

Track 4: "Redemption"

A scalding foray of doomness. The vocals skim the top of a singular potent riff until the song breaks into the bridge- this song almost carries like an Acid King tune- aggressive and consistent - whilst adding a bit of mud into the mix. This breaks into yet another heavy, heavy pre-solo bridge before returning to the original verse/chorus riffs. A solid tune.

Track 5 : "Elemental Kingdom"

The beginning evokes Om- with John Strange laying on some tambourine effects for us to a persistent guitar drone. This tune hurdles on with heavy ride cymbal-work and a behemoth of a quarternote drone save for the riff shift on the chorus- somewhat catchy. The lyrics are somewhat ethereal, out-there, and alluding to a higher consciousness. The parts following the second chorus are led off with a vocal-doubling of the guitar line followed by a middle-eastern tinged solo before moving back to the initial riffs and another vocal doubling at the end. Dig it!

Track 6: "Through the Rays of Infinity"

Filtered, Fluxuated, and freaky. This tune reminds one a little bit of Earthless, long, winding, and whispering and DRENCHED with a phaser. Its got its Welcome To Sky Valley-esque choruses and NOT ONE but TWO wah'd out solos. The vocals are mostly sung almost as if to serenade gregorian chant- with the root-note being the held note for the majority of the time. Mountainous revolving riffs and allusions to the holy land caress this 9 minute epic. 

Overall, a solid record with ethereal lyrics and jolting, jostling, guitar winds. There is not too much over-playing - these guys are tight and keep most things simple. Certainly not a bad thing. A great listen for any fan of early 90s desert scene rock. Give it a listen, and hope that if your friends DO decide to leave you at an airport, you have this on your smartphone in queue so you can brave the air-train/subway ride home. Delicious sounding for those wavy summer days!

Arc of Ascent is :

Craig Williamson - Bass/Vocals

John Strange - Drums

Sandy Schaare - Guitar

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