Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Geoff, setting new metal fashions at this year's Maryland Deathfest.

Beast in the Field
Two-piece from Michigan that creates a massive racket with lots and lots of cabs and amps. Possibly one of my fave instrumental bands at the moment. Very catchy tunes. Could maybe compare them to High on Fire without vocals.
Saw Her Ghost Records

Atomic Death Squad
More Melbourne thrash, this time a little bit closer to the crossover side of things. They do a Cryptic Slaughter cover on their 7”, which may give you an idea of where they are coming from.
Bandcamp

Tree of Sores
Really like this band's name, but when I first gave them a spin a few years ago the tunes didn’t really do it for me. Anyway, these Leeds lads are back with a 27 minute epic track of doomy, crusty sludge that blows my socks off. Much improvement.
Bandcamp

Gig of the Week
The VeeBees, Meatbeaters and Hell Crab City, Saturday 31 May at Magpies City Club.

Video of the Week
Blood, Sweat & Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century: YouTube

Playlist: Unkle K
1. Serpentine Path - Emanations
2. Deep Purple - Fireball
3. Floor - Oblation
4. Beast in the Field - The Sacred Above, the Sacred Below
5. Tree of Sores - A Cry of Despair

Playlist: lxp
1. Vidunder - S/T
2. Slug Lord - Transmutation
3. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell - Check 'Em Before You Wreck 'Em
4. Grimpen Mire - A Plague Upon Your Houses
5. Man is the Bastard - D.I.Y.C.D.
6. Mark Lanegan - Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989-2011

Unkle K

Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Wet Pensioner
There is a trash metal revival on and and Melbourne’s Wet Pensioner pull it off perfectly. This wouldn’t be out of place in 1987. Great catchy songs, cool vocals and the songs don’t go too long. I think this is a lot better than fellow Victorians Clowns, who seem to be getting a lot of attention and picked up the recent D.R.I. support.
Bandcamp

Pastor
Pastor from Vienna, Austria could be pigeonholed with other great hard rock bands like Witchcraft and Graveyard. They are maybe not on that level yet after this first 7”, but I look forward to their future output.
Bandcamp

Morgue of Saints
One man project Morgue of Saints, from Montreal throws out classic instrumental metal in a doomy vein. The first song opens with a solo that would not be out of place on a Mercyful Fate LP and then kicks into some seriously catchy riffing and keyboards.
Bandcamp

Gig of the Week
Thee Nodes (Canada), Gentlemen (Melb), Hygiene, Harrow and Primary Colours, Wednesday 21 May at Magpies City Club, 8pm.
Facebook event page

Playlist: Unkle K
1. Internal Rot - Mental Hygiene
2. Super Fun Happy Slide - Drop Your Pants and Grind
3. Thou - Heathen
4. Tree of Sores - A Cry of Despair
5. Nightfell - The Living Ever Mourn

Playlist: lxp
1. Thou - Heathen/The Sacrifice
2. Nux Vomica - S/T
3. Oozing Wound - Retrash
4. Floor - Oblation
5. Fu Manchu - Gigantoid
6. The Wounded Kings - Consolamentum
7. Hydromedusa - Debut 7"
8. Internal Rot - Mental Hygiene
9. Quasimoto - The Unseen
10. Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion (RIP H. R. Giger)

Unkle K

Upcoming gigs

Sunday 20 April at Magpies City Club (early show)

The VeeBees and Seedy Jeezus

Check out the VeeBees' latest album, Outta Ammo here.

Friday 25 April at the Basement

D.O.A. (Canada)

Tuesday 29 April at Commonwealth Park Amphitheatre

Disturd (Japan), Insidious Process (Sweden), Eye Gouge and Hygiene

lxp

Unkle K's Bands of the Week

Hawkeyes
I love a good instrumental band - no shitty vocals to mess things up. And I’d put Canadians Hawkeyes almost up there with heavyweights such as Capricorns, Zebulon Pike and Year of No Light. Hawkeyes feature a four guitar attack plus drums and bass, and this four track tape comes highly recommended if you like epic, big riffs and a good rock-out.
Bandcamp

Evil Ways

God damn, great punky rock 'n' roll from these ex-Canberrans. Pretty sure this band was previously Panel Van Halen (please let me know if I’m wrong). Well worth checking. They have a 7” I need to get a copy of.

Bandcamp

GIGS, GIGS, GIGS!!!

 

Slapshot (USA), Thursday 27 March
at Turner Bowling Club

Turbobelco, Saturday 29 March at the Phoenix

Kylesa (USA), Tuesday 1 April at ANU Bar

(Also see post below.)

Unkle K

Upcoming gigs

Thursday 27 March at Turner Bowling Club

Slapshot, Toe to Toe, Hostile Objects, Bladder Spasms, Eye Gouge and The Fuck Outs

Saturday 29 March at the Phoenix

Turbobelco, Bulldoze All Bowlos and Baby Machine

Tuesday 1 April at ANU Bar

Kylesa, Looking Glass and Rise of Avernus

Saturday 5 April at the Phoenix

Harmony, Hoodlum Shouts and Sex Machine

lxp

To Cross the Oceans 2

Continuing from a post I put up in August last year, here are some more links relating to the global reach of metal and punk that readers might find interesting.

Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Since that earlier post, Alasdair Bulmer's geographic focus has moved progressively southward in the series of articles on African metal that he has written for Invisible Oranges. Although short, these articles offer a fascinating and diverse snapshot.
African Metal #3: Algeria and Morocco
African Metal #4: Cameroon
African Metal #5: Uganda
African Metal #6: Zambia and Zimbabwe

Indonesia
Picking up from the article on Zambia, which mentions that 1970s Zamrock records have been reissued by Now Again Records, a couple of years ago I got my hands on a compilation released by that label called Those Shocking, Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk: 1970-1978. The anthology, and its extensive liner notes, give an overview of a rock movement overflowing with fuzz and funk that drew on a range of influences, from James Brown to Black Sabbath, to hold a mirror up to the cultural and political landscape of Indonesia under Suharto in the '70s. Listen to the album here.

Decades later, it seems that psychedelic hard rock continues to have a good home in Indonesia. A couple of bands that exemplify this and are well worth checking out are The Sigit, who released the excellent Detourn late last year, and Sigmun.
The Sigit - Detourn (Bandcamp)
Sigmun (Bandcamp)

It is already well known that punk is also thriving in Indonesia. Punk Rock vs Sharia Law, a 20 minute documentary by Noisey, focuses on a marginalised group of punks in Aceh, highlighting the persecution the group has faced as well as the long lasting impact of the 2004 tsunami.
Punk Rock vs Sharia Law (Noisey)

France
Finally, the tale of Biquette the punk goat (thanks to Dave for bringing this one to my attention). Before her untimely death in December last year, Biquette lived on a farm/DIY space in rural France, where she spent her time hanging out and watching bands that played there, such as Wormrot.
"Grind Goat Will Never Die But You Will" (Noisey)

lxp

Solar Halos - S/T

The music on Solar Halos' self-titled LP (on Devouter Records) may not immediately sweep you up and carry you away, but it doesn't take very long for the undulating doom undercurrents to begin to flow around you until, before you even notice, you have been sucked below the surface to find wave after wave of thick, hypnotic riffs washing over you. Once that happens, you can't help but focus on your surroundings. It becomes difficult to escape and, like the mesmerising refraction of the sun's rays as they pierce through from above the water, Nora Rogers' warm, enchanting vocal melodies soon dissolve your desire to swim up for air.

Solar Halos was formed by members who previously played together in ambient noise/doom act, Horseback. Developing from there, the band's music could sit nicely alongside Black Skies' (although heavier and more dynamic), Royal Thunder's (without the overt blues/alternative affectations), or Helms Alee's on Sleepwalking Sailors (without the post-metal eclecticism), while conveying a greater sense of depth and subtlety. The control the band wields over the gradual rise and fall in its songs - marked by surging, swirling guitar and bass riffs interwoven with slow-building crescendos, all carried by John Crouch's colourful drumming - is phenomenal. But even though the music is so entrancing, it doesn't become weak or insipid. Solar Halos' instruments rumble low and loud, and somehow, the balance they strike between transcendent wistfulness and rock-solid, doomy heaviness comes across as completely effortless.

This is a truly impressive release that seems likely to be a grower as its nuances come to light. Check it out here, and for more on Solar Halos, see their website.

lxp

Gigs this weekend

Unfortunately both these gigs are on the same night, this Saturday 1 March.

The VeeBees were originally playing at The Phoenix but due to the fire in the Sydney Building, the gig has been moved to Magpies in the City. Support comes from Canberran band Bacon Cakes (mmmmm...bacon) and Wollongong band Cape Tribulation. $10.

The show at the Basement is young Duncan's 40th celebration, with Dead Life from Sydney, New Blood from Wollongong, and locals Inhuman Remnants, Wretch and Psynonemous - all for $10!

Video of the Week
Cosmic Psychos - Blokes You Can Trust (DVD)
Thank you to DD for lending me this DVD - bloody brilliant. Stupidly, I have never really checked out these legends before, but after watching this DVD I'm converted. Thoroughly entertaining watch. Check out the trailer here and a snippet from the film here.

Unkle K