Howlin’ Sun - Maxime (Apollon Records) [Rich Piva]
One of the many cool things about writing for this blog is the exposure I get to music that I may not have if I was not involved. The amount of cool stuff I have discovered in the “to be reviewed” folder is massive, some of which I would still be ignorant to till this day. An excellent example of this is the new record from Norwegian retro blues/psych rockers Howlin’ Sun.
One of the many cool things about writing for this blog is the exposure I get to music that I may not have if I was not involved. The amount of cool stuff I have discovered in the “to be reviewed” folder is massive, some of which I would still be ignorant to till this day. An excellent example of this is the new record from Norwegian retro blues/psych rockers Howlin’ Sun.
All I saw in the folder was their name and a label of the genre “Garage Psych Rock”. So, given that pretty much every band or musician named Howlin’ is good and the fact that if something says “psych rock” in the description I pretty much gobble it up no questions asked, Maxime was coming my way. Whoa boy am I excited it did because this record absolutely kicks ass.
Anyone who has read my reviews before knows I am a stickler for production, specifically albums being overproduced. While researching this album, I found out this wonderful fact:
“The album was recorded live to tape in an old sardine packaging plant by the sea side in Bergen…”
Given that, we were already ahead of the game before I even gave Maxime its first spin. But once I listened, the album immediately clicked with me. Think the White Stripes/Jack White, coupled with Exile era Stones, with bands on the Nuggets comps and you can get an idea what Howlin’ Sun have going on here. Throw in some southern style boogie and this one has some truly amazing ingredients. I assume this is what The Black Keys wanted to sound like before, you know, they became what the Black Keys are today.
Anyone who has read my reviews before knows I am a stickler for production, specifically albums being overproduced. While researching this album, I found out this wonderful fact:
“The album was recorded live to tape in an old sardine packaging plant by the sea side in Bergen…”
Given that, we were already ahead of the game before I even gave Maxime its first spin. But once I listened, the album immediately clicked with me. Think the White Stripes/Jack White, coupled with Exile era Stones, with bands on the Nuggets comps and you can get an idea what Howlin’ Sun have going on here. Throw in some southern style boogie and this one has some truly amazing ingredients. I assume this is what The Black Keys wanted to sound like before, you know, they became what the Black Keys are today.
Kicking off with the title track, you may think Jack White is playing lead for the band. This is a killer blues rock ripper that sounds amazing. The wonderful rawness continues (with cowbell) with the next track, Let’s Go Steady, which very well could be a White Stripes track, especially when the title is sung. All Night Long brings the Southern Rock vibes all the way from Scandinavia, somehow sounding like they are from Memphis, and it works perfectly. Jayne slows the pace down and you start to hear some of those Exile vibes I mentioned earlier.
We pick the ass kicking rock and roll pace up again with Be Mine, which is some great garage rock with some sloppy keys thrown in for good measure. I love this song. Straight up rock, they way it should sound; raw and unpretentious. Bands like The Hives have tried but Howlin’ Sun has perfected this for a modern band. A cool riff opens Last Time, and more of the Stones vibes start to shine through. The train keeps a rollin’ with the killer rock and roll track Main Pretender and the heavy blues rocker Lost, where the guitar work of the band shines through. To close us out we get the very chill, very Stones/Crowes-esqe track Bittersweet Morning Sun to bring us down nicely.
Howlin’ Sun may have perfected the retro garage/blues/psych rock thing so many have tried to replicate over the years. This record is a full steam rock and roll party and at just over 30 minutes it is the perfect blast of energy that never outstays its welcome. Maxime is a home run for Howlin’ Sun who are single handedly trying to keep rock and roll alive and doing an excellent job at it. Everyone should record direct to tape at a sardine factory. 9/10
High Leaf - Vision Quest (Riffslayer Records) [Paul Scoble]
Philadelphia based band, High Leaf have been making heavy and relaxed music for a little over a year. The four piece is made up of Patrick Fiore on Guitar, Corey Presner on Vocals and Guitar, Brian Schmidt on Bass, and Dean Walsh on Drums.
As you can probably tell from the bands name, High Leaf are a stoner rock/doom band, the leaf they’re talking about isn’t tea (High Leaf might be big tea drinkers, but this album is definitely not about tea), it’s weed! The opening song Green Rider starts with the sound of a bong hit, possibly an homage to Black Sabbath’s track Sweet Leaf which opens with the sound of Tony Iommi taking a drag on a joint and then coughing when he exhales. Whether it is an reference to Sweet Leaf or not, as with all kinds of doom or stoner there are lots of Sabbath influences on here, as well as nods towards bands like Kyuss or Clutch, however there are some other influences from outside the stoner/doom sound such as psychedelic rock and grunge. Corey Presner has a great voice that sits somewhere between Chris Cornell and John Garcia.
Unsurprisingly the stoner influences are all over this album, opening track Green Rider has the aforementioned bong hit as an opening, before dropping into a great piece of stoner doom, there are really great riffs with a bit of a Sleep feel to them, the pacing is perfect with a nice head nodding tempo, and a great solo. March To The Grave is another superb stoner track, it vacillates between a beautifully tight riff, with fairly slow pacing and bigger, more powerful riff that drives the song forward, there is a short, minimal riff in the later parts of the song, but this is all about slow stomping and powerful driving riffs. The song The Rot, which closes the album, is another stoner rock classic, big fat Kyuss style riffs jostle with softer, less aggressive parts, and a really great guitar solo, it’s a powerful way to end the album, and one of the best songs on the album.
Dead Eye has more of a hard rock feel to it with some Clutch influences. The riffing is burley and tough, it has a great stomping tempo, like someone stamping on a pavement they hate. It has a slightly different energy to the other material on Vision Quest, more urgent and acute, less relaxed.
The wonderful stoner rock is also joined by some great grunge influences. On the title track Vision Quest there are riffs and vocal structures that I thought were very reminiscent of Alice In Chains, and a little bit like Soundgarden. Vision Quest also features another influence from outside of stoner rock, the song has a long softer section in the middle of the song which has a real psychedelic feel to it, which brings a different colour to the albums makeup and works very well with the heavier elements. This psychedelic feel is also present in the track Hard To Find which is taut stoner rock initially, but goes into a slower psychedelic rock section that is very pleasing, and Corey’s vocals feel like they are channelling John Garcia, which all just works so well.
Vision Quest is a cracking stoner/doom rock album. The pacing and tempos are near perfect, a bouncy walking pace that feel relaxed, but also has great positive energy to them. The riffs and solos are superb, very enjoyable and eminently hummable, each nod of your head will make your smile grow. However the real test of a stoner/doom rock album is that after listening to it strait, you should feel a little bit stoned. I’ve listened to this album a lot at work (where I am extremely sober and straight) recently and have felt really, really relaxed, so this album passes the ultimate stoner test. Really enjoyable stoner rock, highly recommended. 8/10
Cyan Kicks - I NEVER SAID 4EVER (Ranka Kustannus) [Matt Bladen]
Cyan Kicks new album reminds you that Eurovision is hurtling at us like a rainbow flag painted party locomotive. This year taking place in Liverpool (hosted for Ukraine), in last year's competition the Finnish entry was The Rasmus with Jezebel but in the running was Cyan Kicks and their song Hurricane, co-written by Elize Ryd of Amaranthe it's a pumping Euro-pop rock anthem, that sounds like Amaranthe with the metallic parts stripped away, putting Cyan Kicks in a similar boat to The Rasmus in sound.
Howlin’ Sun may have perfected the retro garage/blues/psych rock thing so many have tried to replicate over the years. This record is a full steam rock and roll party and at just over 30 minutes it is the perfect blast of energy that never outstays its welcome. Maxime is a home run for Howlin’ Sun who are single handedly trying to keep rock and roll alive and doing an excellent job at it. Everyone should record direct to tape at a sardine factory. 9/10
High Leaf - Vision Quest (Riffslayer Records) [Paul Scoble]
Philadelphia based band, High Leaf have been making heavy and relaxed music for a little over a year. The four piece is made up of Patrick Fiore on Guitar, Corey Presner on Vocals and Guitar, Brian Schmidt on Bass, and Dean Walsh on Drums.
As you can probably tell from the bands name, High Leaf are a stoner rock/doom band, the leaf they’re talking about isn’t tea (High Leaf might be big tea drinkers, but this album is definitely not about tea), it’s weed! The opening song Green Rider starts with the sound of a bong hit, possibly an homage to Black Sabbath’s track Sweet Leaf which opens with the sound of Tony Iommi taking a drag on a joint and then coughing when he exhales. Whether it is an reference to Sweet Leaf or not, as with all kinds of doom or stoner there are lots of Sabbath influences on here, as well as nods towards bands like Kyuss or Clutch, however there are some other influences from outside the stoner/doom sound such as psychedelic rock and grunge. Corey Presner has a great voice that sits somewhere between Chris Cornell and John Garcia.
Unsurprisingly the stoner influences are all over this album, opening track Green Rider has the aforementioned bong hit as an opening, before dropping into a great piece of stoner doom, there are really great riffs with a bit of a Sleep feel to them, the pacing is perfect with a nice head nodding tempo, and a great solo. March To The Grave is another superb stoner track, it vacillates between a beautifully tight riff, with fairly slow pacing and bigger, more powerful riff that drives the song forward, there is a short, minimal riff in the later parts of the song, but this is all about slow stomping and powerful driving riffs. The song The Rot, which closes the album, is another stoner rock classic, big fat Kyuss style riffs jostle with softer, less aggressive parts, and a really great guitar solo, it’s a powerful way to end the album, and one of the best songs on the album.
Dead Eye has more of a hard rock feel to it with some Clutch influences. The riffing is burley and tough, it has a great stomping tempo, like someone stamping on a pavement they hate. It has a slightly different energy to the other material on Vision Quest, more urgent and acute, less relaxed.
The wonderful stoner rock is also joined by some great grunge influences. On the title track Vision Quest there are riffs and vocal structures that I thought were very reminiscent of Alice In Chains, and a little bit like Soundgarden. Vision Quest also features another influence from outside of stoner rock, the song has a long softer section in the middle of the song which has a real psychedelic feel to it, which brings a different colour to the albums makeup and works very well with the heavier elements. This psychedelic feel is also present in the track Hard To Find which is taut stoner rock initially, but goes into a slower psychedelic rock section that is very pleasing, and Corey’s vocals feel like they are channelling John Garcia, which all just works so well.
Vision Quest is a cracking stoner/doom rock album. The pacing and tempos are near perfect, a bouncy walking pace that feel relaxed, but also has great positive energy to them. The riffs and solos are superb, very enjoyable and eminently hummable, each nod of your head will make your smile grow. However the real test of a stoner/doom rock album is that after listening to it strait, you should feel a little bit stoned. I’ve listened to this album a lot at work (where I am extremely sober and straight) recently and have felt really, really relaxed, so this album passes the ultimate stoner test. Really enjoyable stoner rock, highly recommended. 8/10
Cyan Kicks - I NEVER SAID 4EVER (Ranka Kustannus) [Matt Bladen]
Cyan Kicks new album reminds you that Eurovision is hurtling at us like a rainbow flag painted party locomotive. This year taking place in Liverpool (hosted for Ukraine), in last year's competition the Finnish entry was The Rasmus with Jezebel but in the running was Cyan Kicks and their song Hurricane, co-written by Elize Ryd of Amaranthe it's a pumping Euro-pop rock anthem, that sounds like Amaranthe with the metallic parts stripped away, putting Cyan Kicks in a similar boat to The Rasmus in sound.
Fronted by the brilliant vocals of Susanna Alexandra who's emotional lyrics are affecting on the ballads such as When You're Gone while her vocals are often manipulated with production techniques to add to the layered synth arrangements that are augmented by Leevi's bass, Niila's guitars and Pietari's drums. The rock instrumentation is often overshadowed by the synths, oscillating electronics and dancey vibe on I Never Said 4ever, the thumping Hurricane which can hear why it was entered into Eurovision and the poptastic Addicted.
The songs are empowering and welcoming, open to everyone to interpret however they want with a generally upbeat vibe. The entire record is danceable, shoutable and will have a lot of crossover appeal outside of the rocksphere. That said it's not really a rock record at all, it's a modern pop record with a rock trappings. 7/10
These Beasts - Cares Wills Wants (Magnetic Eye Records) [Zak Skane]
From the opening track Code Name we get an introduction of this band is all about from the octave hopping fuzzed up Mastodon influenced guitar riffs to the natural sounding bombastic drums to the lo-fi megaphone effected vocals. This band takes you through the deserted weed smiling cosmos through the elements of crushing bass lines from tracks such as Cocaine Footprints, the tremolo picked delivery of Nervous Fingers and Zero Effort, whist the tribal pounding of the drum parts of Nervous Fingers, Southpaw including Ten Dollars and Zero Effort echo through each track with natural and professional finesse.
The guitars stem from in your face crushing fuzz cannons in songs like Code and Pecking Order to more ambient spacey soundscapes of track like Blind Eyes and Trap Door. The lo-fi vocal effect does limit the melodic variation that these can achieve but they do there positive with songs like Pecking Order which easily placed on a Cancer Bats record. I not the biggest consider of the Sludge Metal and Stoner Rock genre but These Beasts have really kept me entertained with it’s Mastodon sounding riffs and their thunderous sounding rhythm sections with highlights such as Code Name and Ten Dollars and Zero Effort, vocally it lacked variation. 6/10.