Album Review: The Freeks - "Shattered"

Taste is a funny thing. There is a lot of brouhaha coming from Atlanta that baffles me, which, of course, just showcases my own shortcomings I suppose. It does come at a time when I am able to sort of play Atlanta off of Rome, in an untypical way. I go back and forth between the oldest profession and their precious metals of the southern U.S. and those strange but hep cats from the heart of both the Unholy and Holy Roman Empires, The Freeks, and their newly released "Shattered". I find I favor, and love, the Roman outpourings hands down. Here's an opportunity for you to do the same.

A very cool thing about The Freeks is their stoner history. Band front man, Ruben Romano, was a founding member of both Fu Manchu and Nebula. Whoa. He has again surrounded himself with quality, as shown below:

Ruben Romano - Vocals, Lead Guitar (formerly of Fu Manchu, Nebula)
Bob Lee - Drums (formerly of Claw Hammer, Backbiter, Mike Watt)
Tom Davies - Bass (formerly of Nebula)
Esteban Chavez - Keyboards
Jonathan Hall - Guitar (Angry Samoans, Backbiter)

"Shattered" is their third full LP release, again chock full of incredible concoctions of uniqueness and wonder. The blend of styles and sounds is so profound, so varied, so pregnant, you might find from one moment to the next a sense and a snippet of style and sound from any of a dozen rock genres. The Freeks manage to blend these variances into a cohesive blanket of melodic noise, a fuzz stubble quilt of pure astonishment. There is nothing but magnificence on this album, from song construction and rendition, to a binding melodic sense of destiny. It's more than a garage rock, punk rock, stoner rock amalgam. It manages to deliver something that soars on a level above all that, held aloft by their magnetic underpinnings but propelled forward at breakneck speed on a newly composited sound of pure energy and fun. You'll hear something familiar in each song - a snippet of stoner fuzz, a clang of punk rock riffing, a run of psychedelic mind meld, a retro/blues reminiscence - that will initially and immediately pull you in. Once there you'll likely stay as the mesmerizing concoction of it all is a strong and heady brew of intoxifying wonderment.

bandcamp || facebook || label || website

Album Review: Why Desperados - "WD Crew"

Like most of you I listen to lots of new music, new in the sense that I've not yet heard it whether it was released today or last decade. Each new album begins with anticipation, wondering whether this
one will be a gem, the Arkenstone languishing among a sea of rudimentary treasures. Of course, one person's Arkenstone is another person's Hope diamond, I suppose. Today I present to you a rare gem of rock, with Why Desperados' "WD Crew". Self proclaimed as part of the stoner rock genre this band certainly has a heavy, delicious guitar presence combined with melodies and beats that vigorously vibrate down those primal music cords of our rock n' roll soul, but I would claim they have carved out their own sound that, of course, borrows from many great rock bands of past and present, but exudes a uniqueness that is fun, fantastic, and outright fabulous in presentation. Spinning through the tracks goes much too quickly, leaving you wanting....MORE....please! If this is your first encounter with Why Desperados, and you find, as I have, that after listening to this new release you want more, there is an earlier release, "Sand Flood", as well as a single, "Careless" available on their Bandcamp and SoundCloud sites (links below).

Why Desperados, hailing from Dormolletto, Italy, include band members:

Matias Peruch - guitar
Gianluca Barbaglia - guitar
Nicolò Cagnan - drums
Giuseppe Muscatelli - bass
Andrea Archita - vocals

The driving forces of Cagnan's drumwork and Muscatelli's bass in exquisitely delivered time provide the rock solid platform for both Peruch and Barbaglia to grind, experiment, and soar with their blissful twin guitars. Topping it all off are Archita's truly beautiful vocals, raw and poignant, strong and yearning, pleasantly in sync with the finely crafted melodies this Italian fivesome have bestowed upon the rock loving world to enjoy.



bandcamp || soundcloud || facebook || twitter || instagram

LP Review: Perceptionism by Violence of the Sun

Italy has an amazing collection of heavy bands on the current scene, each with their own distinct sound and masters of their art, and yet another one is being added to the long list, covering stoner, fuzz, psychedelia, sludge and doom, Giulianova’s Violence of the Sun. This is technically the band’s first full length proper as their first (III Times) is a collection of their first three Eps, and it is an almighty impressive listen.

Growing from a duo to four members shortly after inception, the band have grown from strength to strength throughout their early Eps, so that the beauty that is Perceptionism can sound as mighty as it does, easily flicking between heavy guzzling fuzz, to swathes of stoner hazed doom with unbridled ease and excitement. The record doesn’t so much explode into life as gradually build a setting to get you nice a comfortable before ‘Earth’ finally hits you where it hurts and the psychedelic vocals are overtaken with anger and passion that transcends into the guitars and drums, letting all hazy hell loose. The vocals express a raw power which reflects a passion and disparity that cannot be faked; these guys are the real deal. As soon as the passion of ‘Earth’ ends, the Fu Manchu-esqe ‘Feeding The Dolls’ sets you off chugging down the highway into many a desert stoners’ dream outing, lots of driving riffs, songs about friends and good times, while ‘Cathedral of Hate’ carries the weight of fellow countrymen Black Rainbows heavily on their shoulders as the thick layers of fuzz come strangling out of the speakers to delight the heaviest of souls.

Throughout the rest of the record, the guys show just exactly what’s in their locker, with ‘The Devil’s Bell Rings Again’ being a one-part party anthem, and the other part a break-down of deep country blues and despair, ‘Bleeding Cake’ takes on a much darker and sludgier tone than what has gone before it, showing the band’s anguish and embittered hearts, which is also echoed as the record ends, with ‘Golden Sapphire’ mixing dark psychedelia before bestowing aggressive vocals, and unleashing a killer riff to bring the song to a close.

To put it bluntly, these four Italians (Andrea Elkhaloufi, Francesco Pacifici, Mattia Maiorani, and Gigi Di Giacomo) are some damn talented motherfuckers who’ve crafted a record which will appeal to all readers of this blog. If the Italians are indeed going to be taking over this whole scene, perhaps it is the best thing that has happened to us in years! Happy listening!

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Band Submission: Merseger-Space Stoner Rock From Milano, Italy

Band Name: Merseger
Genre: Space/Stoner Rock
Location: Milano, Italy
Brief Bio/Description: Merseger , protector goddess of the dead. Bass guitarist Miky Bengala (Long Dong Silver, Scum from the sun, Svetlanas, Temple of dust , Gordo) founded and produced this Project throughout the collaboration of several musicians.

The whole sound ranges from space rock to instrumental stoner doom through esoteric themes and mystery cults forgotten; a journey that begins from the Underworld and reaches the stars throughout an extremely dark sound given by the particular line up structure made up of drums and two basses.

Band Members:
Miky Bengala: bass guitar
Links: Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Facebook

LP Review - 'Sermonize' by Isaak + Interview

Italian stoner-rockers Isaak are back with their latest record 'Sermonize', the follow up to 'The Longer The Beard The Harder The Sound' released in 2013. The album is being released by both Heavy Psyche Sounds on vinyl, and on CD early 2016 by Small Stone Records.

I managed to catch up with drummer Andre, and ask him a few questions about the new record...


It’s been two years since the first Isaak album - what can fans expect from the new record?

They should expect something new! We tried to merge our souls, lives and passions into this record, cause we needed to leave a message as a representation of Isaak. Sermonize fully represent us, also as a live band: it’s authentic and sincere. We can say that we are growing up, day by day, like a human being; we are evolving, our sound is evolving and we are constantly looking for new forms of expression. We are tied to our roots (the Kyuss cover is an evidence) but we love to experiment and risk on a genre, stoner rock, which sometimes could be very self-referring. This is what our beloved fans should expect: the desire to listen the same track tons of time and always find something unexpected!


The new album, Sermonize - can you tell us a bit about the choice of title?

Sermonize literally means: to preach, talk moralistically. The title is tightly connected with the lyrics of the album, which deeply sum up the personal life experience of every band member. The record speaks about loss, pain, passion, sacrifice, change and the necessity to find ourselves. We moved to a heavier sound texture, leaving (at least for this record) our lysergic stamp just to express these concept better, as a rant to the world. Curiosity: the previous title was “Prayers For The Tightrope Walker”!


How was the writing/recording process for this album, compared to 'The Longer The Beard...'? 

The writing process always start with a guitar riff brought by our riff machine Scazzi (Francesco, guitarist), then together we think about how to complete it with the proper intention; there are not such differences from “The Longer..”, basically we have different ideas and inspirations and more maturity to turn them into a more personal and harmonic style.


Richey Beckett contributed to the album artwork - how did you get to work with him?

We all are huge fans of Richey, we do love his works and we always thought about a collaboration; basically we dropped him a line proposing our idea and including some of the new tracks and he made the artwork painting, then our brother SoloMacello created the layout! That’s it!


You guys are from Genova, Italy - how is the stoner rock scene in Italy right now?

The Italian stoner rock scene is growing up strong and bearded! There are many cool bands (as JussiPussi, Humulus, Glory Owl and more) which are contributing to create the awareness that our scene is every bit as good as the American one!


What are the bands/artists that inspire you to make music in Isaak?

We all have different musical tastes and inspirations: Scazzi (Guitars) is more on Death Metal (Carcass, Slayer, Obituary), Gigi (Vocals) prefers more classic rock (Mark Lanegan, Tom Waits), Gabri (Bass) is a grunge lover (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) and Andre (Drums) is a musical whore cause everything could be his cup of tea, from post rock (Vanessa Van Basten) to hip-hop, to Beyonce or Wolves In The Throne Room. But of course we all agree when we talking about Torche, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Baroness, Mastodon, Entombed, Screaming J Hawkins.. who wouldn’t be!


How would you convince someone who’s never heard your music to check out Sermonize?

Cause Sermonize is the album with the raddest artwork in the world! Ahahaha!


What are the band's plans for 2016? Any tours or festivals planned?

We’ll tour around Europe in March 2016 to promote the album, thanks to HeavyPsychSound; but don’t forget that on February SmallStone Records will release the cd version of Sermonize!


If you could sum up Isaak with three words, what would they be?

Well… Kyuss on steroids!!!



'Sermonize' is packed to the brim with hard-rocking bangers, perforated with grooving riffs and the distinct growls and howls of vocalist Gigi. Like a convertible cruiser in the desert, it races towards its destination with very little let-up, burning rubber all the way. Tracks like 'The Peak' and 'Almonds & Glasses', have the pedal flat down to the metal, which provide a perfect foil for the more exploratory jams like 'Lucifer's Road' and 'The Phil's Theorem'.

The desert-scene influence on Isaak is fully evident, not least with the cover of 'Yeah'! The vocals have a John Garcia laid back swagger, but the overall vibe here is less expansive and psychedelic and way more in your face, up tempo and to-the-point. And that's no bad thing, these guys know how to write a 4 minute smash and grab!

For me, this new record is a real step forward in the evolution of Isaak, having followed their progression since their former life as Ghandi's Gunn. The sound is heavier, more considered, and the song-writing steps away from Kyuss-worship enough to solidify the band's identity as their own. Also a quick mention to the awesome artwork too... such a stunning piece by Richey Beckett.

2016 could be a big year for these dudes!

Follow the band here - Bandcamp | Facebook

Song of the Day-Beesus-"Sonic Doom/Stoner Youth

"Sonic Doom/Stoner Youth" is taken from the band's upcoming full-length release "The Rise of Beesus" due out December 17, 2015 on New Sonic Records/Goodfellas Records. By combining elements of nineties indie noise and stoner doom, this song possesses a thirst for a more current sound by weaving hypnotic bass lines, barking vocals and a bunch of riffs that burst through the pillowing haze of smoke. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

New Band To Burn One To: Thomas Doc

Thick heavy slabs of mighty blues with stoner undertones are the order of the day as we’re lighting a massive one to Italy’s Thomas Doc. They’ve recently released their self-titled debut EP, featuring four tracks of stomping delta blues pounding through a stoner’s cloud of influence. The guitars are fuzzy and twang like a hillbillies’ G-string, the drums are devastating, and the vocals of Marco Mezzatesta both anger and soothe in varying intensities throughout.

The band only formed in 2014, but already they have become a hell of a statement on the heavy blues scene, fitting in amongst contempories such as The Heavy Eyes, Geezer, and Welcome Back Delta. Watch this space, and for now, let Thomas Doc encompass your soul.

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