DESERT STORM / SUNS OF THUNDER: SPLIT

Coming this week will be an opportunity to pre-order a 7" vinyl split between veteran heavy rock bands Desert Storm and Suns of Thunder.

To warm up for it, here is a gateway to the archives of each band, an excursion well worth a commitment, and never before featured on Heavy Planet.


If you are not yet familiar with either band, you should find that you can enjoy their decibel busting, high wattage music from past releases. Once you've laid your dark, demented minds to waste from the blitzkrieg onslaught of ethereal musical mayhem you might find you are primed for the forthcoming vinyl offering.

DESERT STORM
Desert Storm is a stoner rock, doom rock veteran hailing from the UK. They have an archive of magnificently crafted albums stretching  back to 2008, each chock full of high voltage, low tuned awesomeness. They have been featured quite a number of times at Heavy Planet:

LP Review: Desert Storm - Omniscient
LP Review: Desert Storm - Horizontal Life
New Band to Burn One To - Desert Storm

The gravel voiced frontman Matt Ryan is the epitome of the stoner/doom rock genre, deftly delivering haymaker vocals that match the darkly laden depths of bassman Chris Benoist's thunderous thumping, the supreme riffage and scorching solos of guitarists Chris White and Ryan Cole, as well as the driving dementia of drummer Elliot Cole.

The split features the new song "Signals From Beyond" which is a melodious romp of delightfully amplified distortion, booming and crackling with resonance and grace.

SUNS OF THUNDER
Suns of Thunder are not only prolific, dropping electric energy filled rock and romp dating back to the turn of the century, but are legendary in their home country of Wales. Suns of Thunder were part of a feature on Heavy Planet in which the live event, Swamp Feast, featuring Suns of Thunder, their split partners Desert Storm, as well as The Witches Drum, was caught live by Heavy Planet:

Live Review: Swamp Feast with Honky, Desert Storm, The Witches Drum, and More

High energy, explosive, adroit riffs from dual guitarists Greg Brombroffe and Matt Williams are matched with equal power, intensity, and proficiency by the same pair on their complementary vocals. The rumble and thunder of bassist Chris James propels the music forward with a voracious capacity while the high energy mojo of the music is laid out first and foremost by the virtuoso stickwork of drummer Sam Loring.

The newly crafted song "Earn Your Stripes" delivers another example of the deftly orchestrated melodies of power riffs and raunchy fun to the split with their fellow stoner rock countrymen.

These two massive representatives of rock in the twenty-first century have teamed up to release a high quality contribution of heavy low tuned sublimity this coming April. Pre-sales begin on March 29, in which you can order your vinyl copy here:

http://www.h42records.com/

Desert Storm
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Suns of Thunder
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New Band To Burn One To: Tradish

This Welsh trio first came to our attention late last year with their debut offering The Garden of Bliss and Murder, showing a band searching for their standout sound, playing with doomy elements mixed in with slabs of stoner and 70s hard rock, and at times it was a invigorating listen. Now with the release of their follow up effort, The Garden of Bliss and Murder Vol. 2, it was the right time to let you guys know all about the newest heavy rockers from Cwmbran, Wales, or from henceforth known as the valleys of Tradish!

The three guys (Kane Barker on guitar and vocals, Luke Proudman on drums and vocals, and Ben Hughes on bass) have grown up on a diet of grunge and alternative stoner, culminating in a sound glorifying the greatest elements from all their beloved genres, and with Vol. 2, the band seem to have cemented the musical path which they want to head down for their debut record; a fuzzy psychedelic stoner juggernaut of a sound that will win the band legions of followers the world over. Check out the band’s two releases so far and get on board what could very well be your next new favourite band.

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LP Review: Defacer by Hogslayer

This has been a difficult review to write, as originally, what you read before you was simply three words, three accurate words though, but a record can’t simply be narrowed down to such vague minded simplicity, but yet, when it comes to Hogslayer, those three words keep racing to the front of the mind: HEAVY, PUNISHING, and BRUTAL!

Let’s look at those things individually:

HEAVY: What the Cardiff, Wales, sludgers have done on their second record, Defacer (released on the excellent Undergroove label) almost goes beyond heavy, grabbing hold of the aftermath of a heavy sound’s death and stretching it to the far reaches of what you think you can take, into glorious five to seven minute deadly songs filled with venom and hate, all the while crushing your lung capacity to suffocating measures. Opening track ‘Slowhawk’ starts the record as the band mean to go on, relentless skull fucking your ill prepared ears with. Speaking of being relentless

PUNISHING: Hogslayer simply never let up! Their sludge/noise/doomy mega onslaught is not for the faint hearted, it’s a mix of guttural screams from a man at the end of his tether, it’s drumming that breaks the skins, sticks, and kit of every set they touch, and it’s guitars that not only grind away at the nuts and bolts of the frameworks of each song, they are riffs to do some serious damage to, as your head becomes an uncontrollable pneumatic drill of motion, and on the pattern goes, trudging through every thickly layered song, never, ever, pausing for a respite, and your tattered soul can be thankful for that as the title track does actually feel like a physical assault on your being; and that is how we get to:

BRUTALITY: Going into a sludge or noise record, you pretty much know what to expect, it isn’t going to be something you’ll be whistling as you skip to work on a sunny day. What Hogslayer have done is to reach a new level of heaviness that still retains the song’s core structure and most importantly its tune, withstanding its own wall of noise, but still destroying everything around them. These areas are where the doom elements of the band come into play, as the appropriately titled ‘Bludgeon’ showcases to perfection. It is often said that music should emit an emotional response, and if you’re not just a little bit scared of Hogslayer, you’re a double hard bastard I wouldn’t like to meet down an alleyway at night.

Defacer is a record that is quite beautiful really (perhaps not a word used very often with this genre). They’ve set out to write songs in the heaviest way they can, without losing track of their goals, adding walls of sound, spite, aggression, bruising riffs, apocalyptic vocals, but still crafting a piece of music which draws you in, and bewitches you for it’s duration. We can’t say you won’t come out of the other side a slightly more damaged individual, but it’s a musical ride you simply have to be a part of.

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New Band To Burn One To: The Cosmic Nod

Heavy instrumental psychedelic stoner jams are at the top of our food chain for today’s New Band To Burn One To with Cardiff, Wales’, The Cosmic Nod, pummelling the very fabric of your existence with 30 minutes of Earthless inspired jamming to really makes you question your reality.

Featuring two members of The Witches Drum (Owen Griffiths and Mat Warren), the band have just released a two-track self-titled EP featuring the 15 minute ‘Black Rubber’ and the 13 minute ‘Old Hemp’, both ripping psychedelic jams drifting in between spaced out acid tripping wails, and heavy fuzz-like riffing that pounds your skull into a gnarly blend of stoner rock and psychosis induced head bangs. These guys (including Luke Llewellyn, Tom Rees, Grant Jones) wear their influences on their sleeves, but it’s a sound done with passion and skill that not many others can successfully pull off, Thankfully though, The Cosmic Nod have found the perfect balance to make a sound that really hits that psychedelic jamming hole in your soul you’ve been crying out for.

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EP Review: 'Galactic Triceratops' by VAILS

At a quarter of the way through 2015, there has been a large amount of heavy classic rock influenced stoner passing through Heavy Planet towers, and as sweet as a lot of it is, we’ve just been waiting for something to shake things up, tear us a new one, bring us face to face with an otherworldly brutality of sludgyness: thank fuck for VAILS!

It has only been six months since their blistering two song demo was spread thick for us to hear, and now the ever growing superb label When Planets Collide (seriously how good is this label at the moment? Along with VAILS, there’s GURT, Mother Corona, PIST, Wort; seriously exciting stuff fromthe British label) have helped the band release a heavy, sharp, skull smashing EP in the form of the excellently named Galactic Triceratops, and it’s a hell of a beast to behold!

The Welsh duo (bassist/vocals Owen Street, drummer Matthew Ham) kick of the record with ‘Sally’s In Love’, showcasing a combination of doom vocals set over slow burning sludge lines that explode with the force of an army, and considering they’re a duo, that’s a hell of an impressive feet, you couldn’t even guess it was bass guitar led if I hadn’t just spoilt it for you before. Highlight of the record, and probably song title of the year, is ‘Megatron’s Telethon’ (told you) with it’s crushing riffs and suffocating vocals creating a euphoric moshing experience that just feels like adrenaline coarsing through your veins.

Much focus will be put on the fact that VAILS are a duo, which compared to other acts in the same field is an unusual thing, but what they lack in numbers, they make up for in every other aspect; the riffs are heavier, the songs are more brutal than most, and their waves of doom encompass your contorting soul. Galactic Triceratops is just what we needed to kick us right in the face, it’s a record that will make other bands raise their game, and the listeners smash something large.

Get the record for a pay-as-you-like from When PlanetsCollide now!

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LP Review: 'Darkness Died Today' by Sigiriya

With new label Candlelight Records, and new vocalist Matt Williams’ gruff welsh voice leading the line, Sigiriya’s second record packs an almighty punch of chugging riffs and powerful songwriting to continue the legacy of these heavy rocking Welshmen.

After UK stoner legends Acrimony called it a day, the members formed the original line up of Sigiriya and released the record Return To Earth in 2011, but with a change of vocalist, the band are intent on leaving the past at home and stepping into a new world of hard rock masterclasses. Opening with the ferocious ‘Dragging The Bones’, the album kicks off exactly how it means to go on, fast, heavy riffs with an organised songwriting style which welcomes rather than alienates. That could be said to a lot of the tracks here, whether it’s the husky vocals of Matt Williams or just the direction the band are looking to take, they have created a much more accessible and commercial sound which does take a few listens to fully understand, but it’s a courageous ride once you’re on board.

There are plenty of references to their old band Acrimony in the music on offer here as is evident on ‘Return To Earth’ with its doomy opening followed by trudging stoner bass lines and lyrics revolving around  atmosphere and meteors, it’s certainly the album’s most skull-crunching moment. Even the track ‘Godspeeder’ is basically sped up stoner riffs, which is as good as it sounds. The band have some truly cascading moments, In ‘Freedom Engines’ the vocals and guitars build so much it’s a surprise that the speakers don’t collapse in on themselves, and ‘Tribe Of The Old Oak’ is just a mirage of thick heavy waves of riffs that is a sheer joy to tackle.

When the past and line-up shifts have all been put to one side, Darkness Died Today proves itself to simply be just a great heavy rock record, full of riffs, mighty husky vocals and even the odd sing-along moment. The artwork is even done by fellow Welshman, and frontman of Hark, Jimbob Isaac!

 What’s not to love?

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