Douge: D

Go Down Records (GOD075)

 

Douge is a new stoner rock band from Italy. They released this debut album early 2013, so I’m once again a bit late with my review (apologies for that!). This promo that I received was actually sort of buried under a lot of other stuff plus I couldn’t even figure out what band this was since the name of the band or album is not written anywhere… I just have the CD (with no text, even the label) and a simple booklet. Luckily I’m a natural-born Sherlock Holmes! Okay, let’s get to the point. Today was the first time I put this CD on and I immediately knew that this is one of the best bands from Italy that I’ve heard for a while, especially in the stoner rock genre. Two heavy, inventive and talented guitar players, tight rhythm section and a good singer, that’s all it takes in addition to some great tunes and good production, of course. Douge has all that.

There are 13 tracks on the CD. The opener “Stone” shows already that this is a killer band. Nothing that original, but still inventive enough and this rocks and works, and especially the hypnotic jam part in the work is really good. “Narbon Kailon” has some Kyuss and Colour Haze in it, not bad at all. “Violent Desire” gets a bit more aggressive as the title suggests. “Psychedelic Symbiosis” is a nice mid-tempo song with some more atmospheric touch. Then it’s time to rock out in a faster mode with “Sex Drugs”. The bit longer “Eragorn / Storm” has some 70’s hard rock as well as more progressive. “Truck Rocker” doesn’t really do anything special for me but it still rocks okay. “Simple Chaos” is a pretty, lighter track that still has also some heavy guitars at times. Nice vocals and slide guitar on this one. “Mr. Queen” rocks fast and hard again, but is maybe too straight-forward rock’n’roll to my taste. ”Pressured” is far more interesting stoner rocking and will blow your mind with its cool riffs! “Perhaps You Should Smoke a Cigarette Instead” gets more interesting and hypnotic later on. The last track “Look at Your Desert” is quite cool desert rock stuff and a fine ending for the album.

soundcloud.com/#douge-stoner-rock

Bear vs Manero: The Bifacial EP

Skingasm Records (SKCD0003)

Okay, another band I have never heard about. This punky sludge/post-hardcore band from London has previously put out a couple of singles and this EP form November 2013 is their latest outing. They state their influences as The Stooges, Pixies, The Jesus Lizard and The Cardiacs. There are just four tracks in 17 minutes: “Fluoride Frustration Face”, Discordia 2.1.”, “Thor’s Super Sweet Sixteen Party” and the more narrative and slower “Budd”. The vocals are closer to old punk rock with some actual melodies which is a good thing. The guitar and the bass are pretty heavy but not ultra-heavy, down-tuned or anything like that. I got to say that this is definitely not my kind of music, but I’m sure people who like this kind of stuff will also enjoy this EP that you can now purchase from the band’s Bandcamp site. The digital download is “pay what you like” and the limited compact disc just 3 pounds so this is a bargain. Check it out!

bearvsmanero.bandcamp.com

This Is Ghost! Country: S/T

Electric Magic (EMCD.04)

 

This Is Ghost! Country is a new band from Germany. Their sound is quite hard to pin down but they have elements of punk, hardcore, sludge metal and stoner as well as some heavy metal. This is energetic, raw, heavy and in-your-face kind of stuff. They still have some clever hooks and tricks as well as slower parts so it’s not just straight-forward blasting. Before this debut album released on CD and vinyl last year the band has released one CD EP in 2010.

The 33-minute album has eight tracks on it. The mid-tempo “Smooth Unfoo” starts the disc with heavy riffs and dark moods. Nice, fuzzy and dirty sludge rock with cool vocals. Although being rather slow stuff, “Dumbfucker” gets more aggressive and the singer starts to scream more. The ending is closer to doom metal. On the noisy “Ztupe / Red Area” the band speeds up into standard punk pace and this track will for sure make the audience pogo during the live performances. “The God Replacement” is slower stuff again and there’s even some blues influence I think, not unlike something that you might hear in the Southern sludge rock circles. “Tekken” starts off peacefully but gets heavy later on. “Big Fat Killing” is a just a minute-long fast punk eruption, and then it’s time for “Black Trekken” that has some The Obsessed influences and maybe even a bit of AC/DC? The album is finished with the over eight-minute-long “Bootes” that is the most experimental and psychedelic track on the album. Very stoned, dark and heavy shit. This is a pretty interesting album so check it out if you are into this kind of heavy, sludgy and harsh stuff.

www.facebook.com/pages/THIS-IS-GHOST-COUNTRY/185719998125386

DxBxSx: Ihr! Alle! Immer!

Elektrohasch (EH 162)

 

This stoner punk band from Berlin used to be called Drive By Shooting but they have shortened their name to DxBxSx, it seems. I have stumbled upon the band a couple of times, mostly because of the of some split releases on Swamp Room Records and Nasoni. The guys also saved my friend’s bag he forgot to the Nasoni 10 Years Festival in 2005 so they must be cool guys… Thanks! Their music just isn’t that interesting to me (sorry!). It’s pretty straight-forward punk rock with a bit heavier sound than usually in that genre. The vocals are now in German which suits the music just well. I just don’t understand them, but they seem to be quite political and anarchistic with a good old rock’n’roll party attitude. This kind of stuff kicks ass live when you’ve had a few beers, but I really don’t have a lot of interest to listen to this CD at home. The CD includes 14 tracks, and “Action Moni” sounds exactly like “Wild Thing” but with new lyrics in German. There’s nothing psychedelic here, and apart from the occasional MC5/Stooges/etc. vibes and the little bit groovier track “Sie Werden Sagen” this is too standard punk for me. Having said that, the band rocks out and plays very tightly so I’m sure there will be a lot of people who appreciate this kind of music. It should be great to party to. It’s just not for me.

www.dxbxsx.de

Deamon’s Child: Demo

Self-released CD-R/Zygmatron

 

Deamon’s Child is a new noisy and punky stoner rock band from Germany. The band has a female singer to give the music also some more fragile vibes. Most of the vocals are in German that makes the music sound a bit different. This six-track demo was recorded in March 2013 and all instruments are played by John Daemon, but the cover says that Anami Daemon plays bass and Jack Daemon the drums. Go figure. The idea was to form a live band as well, anyway. “Lutscher” is a slow and heavy stoner piece, “Alles Bio, Immer Bio” rocks hard and faster bringing to mind some South-American heavy psych/hardcore acts. “Mine Leer” is only a couple of minutes long but rocks hard and with punky energy. “Venus” is a dark, more atmospheric number and I can also hear some keyboards in this one. I’m getting some post-punk vibes from this one, pretty nice. “Vertigo” is a very short (1:37) experimental instrumental, and then it’s time for the demo’s longest (7:09) track “Among the Shadows”. It starts out slowly but turns into 70’s styled heavy hard rocking after a couple of minutes. Then it gets more atmospheric again but soon the going gets wild and fierce. This must be the best piece on the demo, I like it! The sound is quite rough, loud and dirty but I think it suits the music just fine. I bet we will more hear about this band.

deamonschild.bandcamp.com

Monkey3: The 5th Sun

Napalm Records (NPR 499)

 

Monkey3 is a fabulous instrumental psychedelic/stoner/post-rock band from Switzerland who have been around for over ten years and released five albums. The 5th Sun was released in October last year and is probably their best and most accomplished work so far. Their adventurous music has elements of hypnotic space/kraut rock, it’s progressive and sometimes very beautiful and atmospheric, sometimes heavy and metallic. They also use lots of keyboards and synths to give the music more layers which is great. The new album has gained very positive reviews all over the world and I can see why.

The new album has six tracks, although the 2LP and limited digipak CD versions also have one bonus track “The Ship”. Things start with the majestic and powerful mid-tempo 15-minute piece “Icarus”. It starts to rock harder after the six-minute-marker, but then cools down for a few moments. The end is beautiful and atmospheric stuff, very nice. “Suns” begins gently with droney soundscapes, sparse electric piano and hypnotic, monotonic beat. The track grows after three minutes and you just can’t stop banging your head to the heavy motorik riff! In the end things mellow out again. Wonderful! “Birth of Venus” is a shorter, heavy and progressive piece, but there’s also some more atmospheric stuff in the middle. “Pintao” is the shortest track at 4:44 and it has a pretty weird, dark and experimental vibe. There’s a great guitar and keyboard solos in the end! “Once We Were” is a fast and furious heavy prog rock piece that I enjoy very much. The sort of Oriental vibe reminds me of Kingston Wall a bit. The slow, deep and mystical ending is very mesmerizing! The last track “Circles” starts off slowly and quietly, but starts to rock out in the heavy progressive way later on. There are also some Pink Floyd influences on the chord progression at times, I think. Great stuff anyway! For fans of My Sleeping Karma, Hypnos 69, Karma to Burn, Glowsun, Sungrazer etc.

www.monkeythree.com
 

 

Oranssi Pazuzu: Valonielu

Svart Records (SVR226)

 

Valonielu is the third album by Finnish Oranssi Pazuzu. The guys combine hypnotic, cosmic and psychedelic rock to dark and gloomy black metal. They have also released a splendid slit with Candy Cane. I’ve been a fan since the debut album, although I don’t usually really care for this kind of growling/shrieking vocals anymore. For some reason the vocals of Oranssi Pazuzu don’t really bother me, maybe I’m just used to them or maybe it’s the fact that they remind me of early Bathory that’s the kind of original black metal that I still can stand? Whatever the case, the main thing that appeals me with this band is their cosmic, spacey and spooky atmosphere full of ancient Lovecraftian monsters, altered states of mind and dark parallel universes. And they also write great songs! I like the down-tuned, brutal guitar riffs, hypnotic, early Circle-like beats and eerie keyboards and spacey sound effects. Not all the guitars are totally distorted and heavy, but they also use lots of other effects which is very cool. There are some weird, surreal, abstract and experimental vibes that remind me of Voi Vod as well. The overall vibe is very gloomy and spacey. I also really like the lyrics that are in Finnish, although it’s sometimes hard to figure out what the singer is singing. Valonielu also includes a more ambient, tranquil but still very dark instrumental called “Reikä Maisemassa” (“A Hole in the Landscape” in English). My favourite is the heavy rocking hypnotic mid-tempo piece “Olen Aukaissut Uuden Silmän” (“I Have Opened a New Eye”) that reminds me very much of Bathory, especially during the parts with blast beat. Two of the six tracks are very long, the cosmic, stoned and doomy “Uraanisula” at 11:52 and the mostly atmospheric and experimental “Ympyrä On Viiva Tomussa” at 15:10. If you want something heavy, weird, dark, scary and spacey, this album is for you. The album is also out in the US on 20 Buck Spin.

 

www.oranssipazuzu.com