Metal – Page 11 – 7th Level Music

The Well announce winter tour dates through the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Europe.

Austin trio The Well announce yet another round of North American, EU and UK tour dates in support of their critically acclaimed new album Death and Consolation (RidingEasy Records.) The band has spent much of the year on tour, and now continue the trek into 2020, sharing some US dates with label mates Zig-Zags and R.I.P. These will be The Well’s first ever tour in the UK, having only played London’s DesertFest in 2019, and fans’ first opportunity to see the band performing songs from the new album. Please see all dates below.
The band also recently shared a new video via Brooklyn Vegan. Watch & share the 4K UHD video for album track “Raven” which was directed, shot and edited by William Orendorff HERE. (YouTube.) Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there’s even more darkness and intensity to the band’s third album than previous efforts, take heed. It’s a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing.

“This one is a little more personal,” says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. “2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that’s a constant.”
While The Well continue to walk an intriguing line between authentic early 70s doom/heavy psych and frayed weirdness of dark folk – especially with their haunting unison male/female vocals – the new album also adds the stark vibe of post-punk acts like Joy Division and early The Cure. “I feel like this album is almost more gothic. We’re big fans of post-punk,” Graham says. There’s also much less jamming, the songs are tight and concise. And, did we mention, heavy? The band tuned down a full step to C-standard tuning for this album, which gives the proceedings its monstrous sound.

Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well — Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan — left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band’s debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band’s intense — some even say “possessed” — live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin’s Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more.

“This album might be a little less produced, because I didn’t want to push technical stuff as much,” Graham says. “I’m so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.”

Death and Consolation is available on LP, CD and download via RidingEasy Records. Orders are available HERE.

THE WELL TOUR 2020: 01/22 – Milan, IT @ Ligera 01/23 – Bologna, IT @ Freakout 01/24 – Turin, IT @ Ziggy 01/26 – Lille, FR @ La Bulle Cafe 01/27 – Tours, FR @ Le Canadian Cafe 01/28 – Nantes, FR @ La Scene Michelet 01/29 – Bordeaux, FR @ Les Voutes 01/30 – Dijon, FR @ Peniche Cancale 01/31 – Rennes, FR @ Le Melies 02/01 – Paris, FR @ Espace B 02/03 – Brighton, UK @ Hope & Ruin 02/04 – Milton Keyes, UK @ The Craufurd Arms 02/05 – Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast 02/07 – London, UK @ Black Heart 02/08 – Bree, BE @ Ragnarok 02/09 – Berlin, DE @ Zukunft am Ostkreuz 02/10 – Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse
02/19 – El Paso, TX @ Monarch 02/20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Yucca Tap Room 02/21 – San Diego, CA @ Til Two Club *02/22 – Oceanside, CA @ The Pourhouse *02/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Permanent Records Roadhouse *02/25 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout 02/26 – Nevada City, CA @ The Brick 02/27 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark +02/28 – Seattle, WA @ Substation +02/29 – Vancouver, BC @ TBA +03/02 – Kalispell, MT @ Old School Records 03/03 – Missoula, MT @ TBA 03/04 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder 03/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court 03/06 – Denver, CO @ Streets of London 03/07 – Albuquerque, NM @ The Launchpad
* w/ Zig-Zags+ w/ R.I.P.

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Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest

I once read a comment on a YouTube video of “Planet B,” a track from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s newest album, Infest the Rats’ Nest, that said the following:

“Interviewer: What genre do you play? / King Gizzard: Yes.”

That comment refers to how the Australian psych-rockers went from releasing a blues boogie / synthwave record, Fishing for Fishies, earlier this year to Infest the Rats’ Nest – one of the best thrash metal albums of the year. They’ll play whatever they feel like playing.

The album is a companion piece of sorts to Fishing for Fishies in its environmental message. The first half of Infest the Rats’ Nest is all warnings about how we’re trashing the Earth and the second half is a story of people trying to flee our dying planet but being stonewalled by rich elitists.

“Planet B” gets the album off to a crunchy, angry start with fierce double drumming and dire warning vocals like “Paralyzation, scarification, population exodus…There is no planet B! Open your eyes and see!” “Mars for the Rich” has a cool groove to it (wicked bass licks, Grateful Dead-like drumming), showing that KGATLW didn’t want to completely abandon their psychedelic roots. Lead singer Stuart Mackenzie sings the tale of a child seeing images of Mars on television and wishing he could go there to escape the poisoned Earth, but knowing only the rich will escape environmental doom.

“Organ Farmer” is bonkers. You can barely keep up with the energy of it. It’s all runaway train guitars and drums that sound like they’re about to collapse. “Superbug” switches to stoner metal jams reminiscent of Sleep while Mackenzie sings about a super virus sweeping across the planet.

“Venusian I” has epic shredding behind a tale of trying to flee to Venus because the Earth is doomed. “Space is the place for the new human race,” Mackenzie sings at the beginning of “Perihelion” – a space rock with crushing drums. He and the rest of KGATLW want to escape the Earth, but will their efforts to reach Venus be successful? “Venusian 2” hits you like a spaceship trying to survive re-entry burn as it blazes across the Venusian sky, so it’s difficult to say if the trip is a safe one.

The mosh-inducing “Self-Immolate” is as fiery as its name would imply. The whole band sizzles across it while the lyrics tell a tale of blazing heat on Venus and the agony of leaving one dying planet for another that’s a perpetual inferno. The album ends, fittingly, with “Hell.” Mackenzie, now dead, is terrified as “Satan points me to the rats’ nest.” and everything, like Earth and Venus, is burning all around him.

Heavy stuff, but it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, so don’t worry. KGATLW made Infest the Rats’ Nest to not only warn us of the effects of climate change, but also to salute their appreciation of thrash metal and have some fun playing stuff that they have admitted is hard to play. As a result, they put out a thrash metal record that can hold its own with heavyweights in the genre.

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Review: Holy Serpent – Endless

Despite the hot (literal and figurative) cover image of two naked women standing in a dried out lake and staring at fiery horizon, Endless, the third album from Australia’s Holy Serpent (Dave Bartlett – bass, Nick Donoughue – guitar, Lance Leembruggen – drums, Scott Penberthy – guitar / vocals) is heavy on ocean imagery. Stories of coasts, waves, sea trenches, undertow, and frightening denizens of the deep are all over the doom metal album. It almost threatens to drown you.

Penberthy has said that the album’s title refers to the endless nature of the ocean and the story of two lovers standing on opposite sides of an ocean as they long for each other is weaved through the lyrics. The opening track, “Lord Deceptor,” is heavy fuzz with giant tortoise-level sludge prowling along its edges while Penberthy sings about ocean graves. “Into the Fire” is perhaps the story of the two women on the cover or the tale of sailing straight into a blazing sunset at sea (“Where the ocean meets the sky, I’ll be waiting…”). It’s a blistering track either way with Bartlett’s bass growling like a wild animal and Leembruggen’s drums smashing like an icebreaker.

The guitars on “Daughter of Light” push against the reverb-laden vocals while Leembruggen’s cymbals crash like waves against sharp rocks. I once described “For No One” as a tidal wave you see coming but can’t avoid. It’s a monster bearing down on you and there’s nothing to do but let it wash over you. Penberthy’s vocals sound like he’s tumbling inside the wave while Donoughue, Leembruggen, and Barlett sould like a shark racing up to meet him. The title of the final track “Marijuana Trench” is a play on “Mariana Trench” – the deepest place on Earth. It starts with acoustic guitar chords and sea shell-echo lyrics before space rock guitars zoom in and flatten you.

Endless is practically a soundtrack for a modern Conan movie if someone finally decided to shoot a movie about the famous Cimmerian’s adventures at sea. Someone should get on that, and you should hear this record.

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Holy Serpent’s new single, “For No One,” is like a tidal wave you see coming but can’t avoid.

Australian quartet Holy Serpent share a new track from their forthcoming third album Endless on RidingEasy Records today via CvltNation. Hear and share “For No One” HERE. (Direct YouTube.)

Brooklyn Vegan recently hosted lead single “Lord Deceptor” HERE.(Direct YouTube.)

The Obelisk launched “Hourglass” HERE.

The forthcoming third album by Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent could likely be its defining moment. Seemingly bottomless in its relentless heft, with billowing and suffocating riffs leading glistening melodies, it’s the sound of a band that has locked on to something unique. Endless is fully conceptualized throughout, encapsulating an oceanic theme from the lyrics and art, even to the very structure of the sounds themselves.

“Lyrically, it’s heavily influenced by the ocean,” explains vocalist/guitarist Scott Penberthy. “Lots of ocean metaphors and imagery was used. Also the title of the album Endless, is an homage to the ocean: Its mystery, power and its ability to give and take life.” The album loosely follows the lyrical theme of two lovers, oceans apart, waiting for each other on the shores of eternity. Their love is so strong, they eventually walk into the water, ending their lives to be together in the afterlife.

Fitting to these themes, the band experiments with sound throughout the album, such as layering in a wobbly synth sound reminiscent of tape push and pull, mixed just loud enough to blend with the instruments. “It’s sort of a haunting sound which gives the album an ebb and flow, much like an ocean’s current or tide,” Penberthy says.

The 6-song, 40-minute album finds Penberthy, guitarist Nick Donoughue, bassist Dave Bartlett and drummer Lance Leembruggen expanding their melodic hooks while simultaneously taking listeners on a rigorous journey. It was written over the course of 2 months, then recorded in seclusion at Beveridge Road Recording Studios near Australia’s beautiful Dandenong Ranges with head engineer Marc Russo and mixed by Mike Deslandes. Surrounding themselves with nature and no distractions allowed the band to focus on every detail of the album as a coherent whole.

In the time since their self-titled RidingEasy debut in mid-2015, Melbourne, Australia’s Holy Serpent have gained a lot of attention for their rather punk version of heavy psych and metal. Their 2016 skate-metal leaning album Temples further defined their more experimental blend of early Soundgarden, Saint Vitus and Kyuss that eschews simplistic 70s-worship in favor of shimmering sonics and uncommon production techniques. Nonetheless, Endless is like all of the band’s earliest visions fully realized and honed into an album beyond easy classification.

Starting with the slow, exaggeratedly compressed 4/4 drum lead in to “Lord Deceptor” — something of a hi-dive anticipation before we plunge headlong into the ensuing depths — crushing and crackling guitars burst in as Penberthy sings in low baritone, “ocean grave, carry me upon a wave / I’m hypnotized in prophecy, what Is left for you and me?” Harmonies drift in and out of the main motif as it sways along into the tempest of “Into The Fire.” Here, a churning riff gathers intensity as the rhythm section builds to a lurching 3/4 time. Reverb-soaked vocals sing, “where the ocean meets the sand, I’ll be waiting, I’ll be waiting there.” Elsewhere, on “For No One,” impossibly low droptuned guitars slink along as the music swells with space rock abandon. Album closer, “Marijuana Trench” is a play on the Mariana trench, the deepest place on earth. Appropriately, the song plunges from gently strummed acoustic guitar into a tsunami crest that pulls the listener under the dark and enveloping weight of sound as Penberthy’s soothing vocals seem to ease us into the end, subsumed in the album’s powerful allure.

Endless will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on October 18th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Preorders are available HERE.

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Clutch releases new studio version of their hit single “Electric Worry.”

Clutch announce the release of “Electric Worry.” The single is the third in a series of new studio recordings that comprise the newly launched Weathermaker Vault Series and the first new official music Clutch is making available since the release of their critically acclaimed album, Book Of Bad Decisions.

The new live video uses footage from various 2019 European Summer festivals and can be seen at https://youtu.be/mtuVGOnX868

When “Electric Worry” was released in 2007 on the album From Beale Street to Oblivion nobody knew that this track would turn into one of Clutch’s most recognizable songs. It is a fan favorite and a staple at live shows. Over the course of time, the song went through changes. What you are listening to here is a brand new studio recording of the 2019 live version of the song without the keyboards and harmonica that are on the 2007 rendition. This is “Electric Worry” in its purest form.

“Electric Worry” was mixed by 6X Grammy Award winner and Clutch collaborator, Vance Powell (Wolfmother, The Raconteurs, Arctic Monkeys).

“All in all it’s just a leaner, meaner song” states vocalist Neil Fallon. “We wanted to put something out there that was representative of what we do these days since it happens to be one of our most popular songs.”

Clutch has curated their own Spotify playlist “Clutch’s Heavy Rotation”: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3NlZsjNNOoCvwjCv58mcNR

On Friday, September 20th, Clutch will embark on a Fall tour of the US with Dropkick Murphys along with metalcore veterans Hatebreed as direct support.

Clutch Fall Tour with Dropkick Murphys: Tickets available here. (headline** and festival* dates) = no Dropkick Murphys Fri/Sep-20 Springfield, MA MassMutual @ Center Arena Sat/Sep-21 Erie, PA Erie @ Insurance Arena **Sun/Sep-22 Wilmington, DE @ The Queen (support: Lionize, Kingsnake) Tue/Sep-24 Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheatre Wed/Sep-25 Charlotte, NC Charlotte @ Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre Thu/Sep-26 Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewery **Fri/Sep-27 Clarksville, TN O’Connors Outdoor Stage (support: Hatebreed, Cane Hill) Sun/Sep-29 Detroit, MI @ Masonic Temple Theatre Mon/Sep-30 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Tue/Oct-01 Minneapolis, MN @ The Myth Thu/Oct-03 Moorhead, MN @ Bluestem Center For The Arts Fri/Oct-04 Council Bluffs, IA @ Westfair Amphitheatre Sat/Oct-05 Broomfield, CO @ FirstBank Center Sun/Oct-06 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Union Tue/Oct-08 Los Angeles, CA @ The Palladium Wed/Oct-09 San Diego, CA @ Park at the Park *Fri/Oct-11 Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival **Sat/Oct-12 Bend, OR @ Midtown Theater (support: Red Fang, Mos Generator) **Sun/Oct-13 Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theater (support: Red Fang, Mos Generator) Mon/Oct-14 Boise, ID @ Outlaw Field at Idaho Botanic Gardens Tue/Oct-15 Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theatre ** = HEADLINE SHOW * = FESTIVAL

Clutch online: www.pro-rock.com

www.facebook.com/clutchband Instagram: www.instagram.com/clutchofficial Twitter: www.twitter.com/clutchofficial YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/officialclutch

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Review: Warish – Down in Flames

Warish‘s first full-length album, Down in Flames, is as fiery as its namesake. Their self-titled debut EP hit so hard that it was like going four rounds with a professional boxer. The image of a supersonic jet pilot on the cover of Down in Flames is not happenstance. It’s a reflection of how this album makes you feel – strap in and hold on.

The opening track, “Healter Skelter,” with its wild guitar licks and break-down-the-walls drumming is not unlike the angry Beatles track of the almost same name. “You’ll Abide” brings in thrash punk elements as Riley Hawk sings, “I don’t wanna be like them. I’ve got an evil mind. It was made for sin.” The drums somehow get bigger on “Big Time Spender” with Hawk dropping his vocal register and the bass dropping even more to turn the song into a Black Sabbath-like dirge.

“Bleed Me Free” pushes the speed back up to F-14 levels and has Hawk wailing like Kurt Cobain on rare Bleach-era cuts. “In a Hole” blasts by so quick that it seems like it clocks in at under a minute instead of just over twice that length.

The next four tracks, “Bones,” “Voices,” “Fight,” and “Shivers” are the four tracks from their self-titled debut EP and are each full of burning jet fuel power. They follow it with “Runnin’ Scared,” a fierce, wild track that layers distortion over Hawk’s vocals as well as the guitar and bass (which remind me of Motorhead arrangements). The album ends with the almost-peppy “Their Disguise,” in which I can’t determine which instrument is leading and who is trying to keep up with whom. I mean this in the best possible sense. Each of the band members burns up the last of their fuel reserves on it.

Down in Flames is heavy, fuzzy, angry, fast, and one of the hottest metal records so far this year. Their self-titled EP was just a warm-up. This is a full-on brawl.

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Live: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, ORB, and Stonefield – Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL – August 24, 2019

I’d read that the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard / ORB / Stonefield show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom was on the verge of selling out. I’m pretty sure it did, judging by the line to get into the venue.

The line was so long that the Aragon had to put an employee (guy in white shirt behind car) in a parking lot two blocks away to manage it.

People were laughing in disbelief when they reached this corner and saw the line went on for another block and a half.

The top photo there is from the back of the line, which was over two blocks from the Aragon’s front door. The second photo shows the line along the Red Line El track wall on the west side of the Aragon. I’ve never seen a line this long to get into the Aragon. As one guy put it as he walked past me to get to the end of the line, “Take that all of you who say ‘Who?’ whenever I mention this band!”

The line was so long that, unfortunately, I missed Stonefield’s set. They were so loud, however, that you could hear them outside the venue when a Red Line train wasn’t passing by. I might get to see Stonefield at this year’s Levitation Austin festival, so it could still work out okay for me.

ORB, who have added a guitarist since I last saw them, put on a solid set of stoner-psych that included a lot of fuzz, metal riffs, and avalanche drumming.

I knew King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s set was going to be nuts when people were already chanting, clapping, and cheering during the soundcheck. Plus, KGATLW’s new album, Infest the Rat’s Nest, is a thrash metal record, and I was sure songs from it were going to cause a frenzied mosh pit.

Sure enough, they opened with “Self Immolate” and “Mars for the Rich” off the new record and the crowd immediately compressed by about thirty percent as two pits broke out – one on each side of the stage. I figured they wouldn’t play too much off the new record, as thrash metal is hard to play and they had an entire show to do that would probably cover everything from psychedelic hippie music to blues.

They proved me right by following the metal with the swing of “Plastic Boogie” off the first album they released this year, Fishing for Fishies, which is a blues record. Three cuts off Polygondwanaland followed – “Inner Cell,” “Loyalty,” and “Horology.”

“We’re gonna play an old one,” lead singer Stu Mackenzie said. “How old?” said the guy behind me. “Old for them is like an album from last year.” True, considering KGATLW put out five albums in 2018. The “oldies” turned out to be “I’m in Your Mind” and “I’m Not in Your Mind” from 2014’s I’m in Your Mind Fuzz. “The Balrog” from Murder of the Universe got everyone jumping again, and I was in the pit by the time they got to “Evil Death Roll” from Nonagon Infinity. The whole crowd was jumping during “Rattlesnake,” which lead to other cuts from Flying Microtonal Banana including “Sleep Drifter” and “Billabong Valley.”

Nonagon Infinity opens the door for infinite lizards.

They swung back into a boogie set with more cuts off Fishing for Fishies and even threw in their synth-single “Cyboogie” before ending the night with a wall of death-inducing “Planet B” and “Hell” from Infest the Rat’s Nest. They began the night with metal and ended the night with metal, leaving everyone sweaty and giddy.

“Thanks for coming. Thanks for getting crazy. You guys are fucking crazy. It’s great,” Mackenzie said at one point. It was a crazy crowd, probably the craziest I’ve been in since I saw Thee Oh Sees in Austin last year. The mosh pit was friendly, too. Twice the pit I was in stopped so people could turn on cell phone lights to look for, find, and hold up dropped stuff like someone’s glasses and a wallet. A woman walked by me wearing a shirt that read, “They only walls be build are walls of death.” on the back.

That’s metal, all right, as was this show.

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If you’re already putting together a Halloween playlist, Firebreather’s “Closed Gate” awaits you.

“Firebreather veer towards roaring, High On Fire-esque sludge, and they’ve got the chops and the grit to pull this kind of thing off.” — Brooklyn Vegan

Swedish trio Firebreather share a new track from their forthcoming debut on RidingEasy Records, Under a Blood Moon. Hear and share “Closed Gate” via YouTube.

Brooklyn Vegan previously hosted the lead single “Dancing Flames” HERE.

Fire is what happens when a carbon based object is consumed by oxygen. That chemical reaction is fitting to the sound of Firebreather: The riffs are suffocating, the rhythms fast moving and all-consuming. It’s so blindingly and deafeningly monolithic, don’t be surprised to find yourself gasping for air while listening. The Gothenburg, Sweden trio has a streamlined focus on driving, symphonic riffs in the vein of High on Fire, Inter Arma and their tour- and label-mates Monolord. The guitar and bass tones are, quite simply, entrancing. Like watching flames engulf a forest, the billowing guitar tones are simultaneously beautiful and destructive, while the rhythms sway and lunge with vicious precision.

“It’s riff based, heavy as fuck, but with a groove to it,” explains vocalist/guitarist Mattias Nööjd, formerly of popular Swedish doom merchants Galvano. “We had gotten off a tour with Monolord in February of 2018 and by that time we had the song ‘Firebreather’ done,” but soon thereafter new drummer Axel Wittbeck joined the fold. “Once Axel had joined, it was like the flood gates opened,” says bassist Kyle Pitcher. “The rest of the album just came together.”

Under a Blood Moon was recorded at Elementstudion in Gothenburg with engineer Oskar Karlsson, who also recorded the band’s lauded 2017 self-titled debut on Suicide Records.

Album opener “Dancing Flames” sets the stage for the onslaught to come with a slinking, serpentine riff over slow churning rhythms. Nööjd’s hushed, gravelly vocals sink into the mix, more like a baritone guitar than a human voice. “Our Souls, They Burn” nicely exemplifies the band’s furious grind that makes even faster tempo songs sound impossibly heavy, like a slow motion stampede. Elsewhere, “We Bleed” perfectly sums up the band’s focus on the riff and groove, honing in on the power of hypnotic attrition. Closing epic, “The Siren” opens with lugubrious, slightly swinging drums and rumbling bass building tension over delay- and phaser-soaked guitar harmonics, until a massive, sliding riff crashes headlong into the proceedings. The song seems to cleverly shape shift across several harmonic and rhythmic parts, without losing the core groove underneath. A short pause for breath, then it’s off to the races with a galloping crescendo for succinct closure.

Under a Blood Moon will be available on LP, CD and download September 27th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Preorders are available HERE.

FIREBREATHER LIVE 2019: Sep 20 Gothenburg, SE @ Musikens Hus w/ Halshug Oct 01 Utrecht, NL @ De Helling * Oct 02 Brussels, BE @ Magasin 4 * Oct 03 Pratteln, CH @ Up In Smoke Festival * Oct 04 Reims, FR @ La Cartonnerie * Oct 05 Paris, FR @ Saturday Mud Fever Festival * Oct 07 Dortmund, DE @ Junkyard * Oct 08 Nuremberg, DE @ Z-Bau * Oct 09 Cologne, DE @ Helios 37 * Oct 10 Mainz, DE @ Schon Schon * Oct 11 Hamburg, DE @ Molotow * Oct 16 Oslo, NO @ John Dee * Oct 17 Gothenburg, SE @ Sticky Fingers * Oct 18 Malmo, SE @ Babel * Oct 23 Linkoping, SE @ The Crypt * Oct 24 Stockholm, SE @ Close Up Baten * Oct 25 Tampere, FI @ Olympia * Oct 26 Helsinki, FI @ Nosturi * * w/ Monolord

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“You’ll Abide” by listening to Warish’s new single from “Down in Flames” due out September 13th.

Southern California trio Warish share a new track from their forthcoming full length debut Down In Flames on RidingEasy Records. Hear and share “You’ll Abide” via YouTube and Bandcamp.

Loudwire recently premiered the first single “Healter Skelter” HERE.

Warish hit the road this fall in support of the album with San Francisco stoner rock progenitors Acid King, who will also reissue their legendary Busse Woods album on RidingEasy on August 30th. Please see all dates below.

Imagine if early, weird Aberdeen Nirvana were crossed with low budget horror-obsessed garage-punks. You’d have sinister vibes with a visceral, twisted weirdness and bludgeoning riffs. Some might call it nightmarish, we call it Warish.

Warish is a very newly minted SoCal trio formed in early 2018 that has wasted no time making its presence known. The band formed when guitarist/vocalist and pro-skater Riley Hawk (son of skating legend Tony Hawk) and drummer Nick (Broose) McDonnell decided they wanted to try their hand at something more distinct than they’d done previously. “We wanted to do simpler riffs and a fun live show,” Riley explains. “A little more punk, a little bit of grunge… a little evil-ish.” Their sound takes cues from a variety of cool underground sounds and twists it all into an energetic and exciting fist to the face of dark fury. Hawk’s effect-laden vocals hearken to 90s industrial monsters Ministry and David Yow’s tortured caterwaul in Scratch Acid. The guitars are heavy and powerful, though decidedly not straightforward cookie cutter punk; more like Cobain’s and Buzz Osbourne’s wiry contortions. The rhythms bash and pummel right through it all with aggressive force ensuring that nothing gets overly complicated and the horrors keep coming throughout the band’s uh, warlike assault.

Down In Flames will be available on LP, CD and download on September 13th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available HERE.

WARISH LIVE 2019: 08/30 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah 09/20 Portland, OR @ Star Theater – Hesh Fest * 09/21 Seattle, WA @ Highline * 09/23 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater * 09/24 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown * 09/25 Chicago, IL @ Reggies * 09/26 Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle * 09/27 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop * 09/28 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place * 09/29 Boston, MA @ Sonia * 09/30 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory * 10/01 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s * 10/02 Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall * 10/03 Raleigh, NC @ Kings * 10/04 Asheville, NC @ Mothlight * 10/05 Atlanta, GA @ The 529 * 10/06 New Orleans, LA @ One Eye Jack’s * 10/07 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey * 10/09 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister * 10/10 Mesa, AZ @ Club Red * 10/11 Los Angeles, CA @ Satellite * 10/12 San Francisco, CA @ Chapel * 11/09 Austin, TX @ Levitation Fest * w/ Acid King

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Rewind Review: Clutch – Slow Hole to China: Rare and Re-released (2009)

Originally released in 2003, Clutch‘s Slow Hole to China was a collection of obscure singles, unreleased material, and cover tunes. They re-released it in 2009 as Slow Hole to China: Rare and Re-released and included three more previously unreleased tracks.

One of those tracks is the first one on this album – “King of Arizona.” It’s a solid blues rocker with harmonica by guest Eric Oblander and vocalist Neil Fallon making allusions to either an Arizona gold mine, a cemetery in Arizona, James Reavis (a con man who was nearly given ownership of most of Arizona and a good chunk of New Mexico), or, quite likely, all three.

The title track has some of Dan Maines’ heaviest bass lines. “Nickel Dime” almost has a fiery gospel feel to it. “Sea of Destruction” hits as hard, if not harder, than a lot of current metal tracks thanks to Jean-Paul Gaster‘s furious drumming and Tim Sult’s fuzzed-to-the-max guitar. Blues swagger comes in heavy on “Oregon,” “Easy Breeze,” “Hale Bopp Blues” (which is sung from the perspective of dinosaurs fearing the arrival of the Hale Bopp comet and the end of their lives on Earth), and “Four Lords.”

“Rising Son” scorches and has one of my favorite lyrics on the album – “Gravity is such a drag, and we will not obey.” I can’t help but wonder if “Guild of Muted Assassins” was inspired by one of Fallon’s old Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, because that title needs to be the name of a D&D game module. “Willie Nelson” is about Fallon’s home being raided by jackbooted figures searching for drugs, secrets, or both. It might be the former when you consider the chorus is, “I don’t know if I’m coming or going, if it’s them or me. But the one thing’s for certain, Willie Nelson only smokes killer weed.”

“Equinox” is an instrumental that has wild Santana-like percussion. “Hoodoo Operator” is a floor-stomper with Maines’ bass taking on angry bee-like quality. “Day of the Jackalope” has Fallon’s vocals distorted as if through a fault megaphone, making him sound like a madman yelling on a street corner. “Ship of Gold (West Virginia)” is an alternate version of the song of the same name that would end up on Clutch’s Elephant Riders album. It’s a bit darker and heavier than that one, and has more extended jams as well.

This is a solid collection and can stand alone as its own album instead of a collection of singles and miscellaneous tracks. It’s worth seeking out if you’re a fan of Clutch, or even if you’re not.

Keep your mind open.

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