Doom? Prog? Psych? Saxophone? Flute? Lap Steel? Ok you got me, I guess I'll dive into and probably love another album from Chicago, Illinois, virtuosos REZN.
It's been a decade since they formed and defined their own niche in the music world, coming from the heavy foundations of psychedelic stoner doom over the years and across five previous albums they've added extras that have shifted them into the prog-sphere, using instruments I've mentioned that may be more at home in jazz or country genres.
It's this experimentalism that has gained them a very dedicated following and positive reviews across the board, fusing cavernous doom riffs and a tsunami of synths, on new record Cycles In The Infinite Dream they've expanded their minds to go further into psychedelia while amplifying the other elements of their music as well.
The album explores "the nexus of our waking and nocturnal worlds" as if lost in the subconscious, they weave a sonic tapestry that combines multiple skilled performances into nine complex songs, that never stay too long as prog often does, but squeezes a lot into run times that are between 4 at their shortest and 8 at the longest.
With Rob McWilliams up front on guitars/vocals, he's joined by Phil Cangelosi on bass and rainstick, Patrick Dunn on drums and Spencer Ouellette, who has a lot of work to do with synths/lapsteel/sax/flute/keys, this is the four piece who create all of incredible music here as Natalie Drakes and Ómkara Gil add violin and cello to two tracks, to add yet more musical dexterity and dynamism.
Dreamy textures on Aerial Birth, through to the Mastodon meets King Crimson of Transient, and the cascading melodic doom of The Vessel which reminds me of Pallbearer while Primal Thread takes me into the realms of Elder whom REZN will be supporting on tour next year. That promises to be a brilliant set of shows as Cycles In The Infinite Dream is another incredible record from these Chicago innovators. 9/10
Dead Meadow - Foundlings (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]
Dead Meadow rules, so any new Dead Meadow material is very welcomed, even if it is an odds and sods type deal, like the band’s latest release, Foundlings. Foundlings is one of those “deep dive into the archives” type releases that, not surprisingly, has some pretty great songs on it, both covers and original material from sessions over the past two decades.
What makes this one even more special is that it is dedicated to late band founder and bassist Steve Kille, who recently passed away from cancer and who plays on all of the tracks on Foundlings.
So what are these seven songs all about? Fuzzy, spaced out psych goodness that you expect from one of the best bands ever to do it, like on the opener, Lost To Light, which quality-wise is as good or better than anything that wound up on the great Voyager To Voyager, the sessions from which it was recorded. A killer version of the track Nobody Home, from the 2018 record The Nothing They Need, recording for an EarthQuaker session, is up next and it is more of the same greatness from the band, with the rhythm section locked in and that guitar tone, highlighting how great the band is live, even if it is live in the studio.
So what are these seven songs all about? Fuzzy, spaced out psych goodness that you expect from one of the best bands ever to do it, like on the opener, Lost To Light, which quality-wise is as good or better than anything that wound up on the great Voyager To Voyager, the sessions from which it was recorded. A killer version of the track Nobody Home, from the 2018 record The Nothing They Need, recording for an EarthQuaker session, is up next and it is more of the same greatness from the band, with the rhythm section locked in and that guitar tone, highlighting how great the band is live, even if it is live in the studio.
Also recorded live in the studio, Kingdom Of Heaven is a cover of a Powell St. John, who I have not heard of before, but whose song is a spacy, atmospheric Twin Peaks vibes journey that has a killer solo. We even go back to 2001’s classic Howls From The Hills, and a session version of the killer trippy-as-hell Everything's Goin' On. Sure, throw in a cover of one of the greatest songs of all time, The Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows, done in Dead Meadow fashion, and have me listen to it 20 times in a row.
This one is worth the price of admission alone. While we are at it, let’s get a cover of the Led Zep classic No Quarter. Also great. From The Children Of Planet Earth closes Foundlings out, and is a weird, synth driven mindbender that closes this set up perfectly.
Any Dead Meadow is great Dead Meadow, and the seven “from the archives” tracks on Foundlings are certainly worth your time, especially if you are a fan who can’t get enough of unheard material from one of the best bands out there. RIP Steve Kille. 9/10
Emptiness - Nowhere Speaks (Season Of Mist) [Mark Young]
Emptiness’s Nowhere Speaks is a timely reminder that its simply impossible for me to like every piece of music that I hear. There are some things that were they to fall into someone else’s lap then the conversation would be different and to be fair I have been on a good run so I guess it’s the law of averages.
Any Dead Meadow is great Dead Meadow, and the seven “from the archives” tracks on Foundlings are certainly worth your time, especially if you are a fan who can’t get enough of unheard material from one of the best bands out there. RIP Steve Kille. 9/10
Emptiness - Nowhere Speaks (Season Of Mist) [Mark Young]
Emptiness’s Nowhere Speaks is a timely reminder that its simply impossible for me to like every piece of music that I hear. There are some things that were they to fall into someone else’s lap then the conversation would be different and to be fair I have been on a good run so I guess it’s the law of averages.
In any event, it’s the kind of thing that attempts to do something different and ends up being falling short, at least of the promises made in the extensive bio that accompanies the release. Its good enough to explain to those who may not know that its opening track directly where a track from 2014 abruptly finished, bearing in mind that there have been releases in between then and now. I’m not sure if that statement set the tone for me, are those in the community really scratching their collective heads as to what happened back then? I don’t know, I’m sure someone will tell me.
What follows next is a collection that merges differing approaches – true extreme metal, noise, electronica that looks to shine a light on them for how unique they are as a band. One thing their bio gets right is that they have no interest in making things easy for the listener. That’s completely fine, be abrasive and uncompromising but come armed with songs that provoke a reaction, be it joy or pain. Their songs fall largely into the middle groove, offering neither to me.
What follows next is a collection that merges differing approaches – true extreme metal, noise, electronica that looks to shine a light on them for how unique they are as a band. One thing their bio gets right is that they have no interest in making things easy for the listener. That’s completely fine, be abrasive and uncompromising but come armed with songs that provoke a reaction, be it joy or pain. Their songs fall largely into the middle groove, offering neither to me.
I expect extreme metal to excite me, to be visceral and here they fail until they get late into things and drop The Clash Of Forces, which at least has a direct, forward kicking movement to it. It is saying a lot that we have got to track 8 before something has landed and has made a mark. Is this what they had in mind, is this what they wanted from this release?
No idea but the cacophony falls away, replaced by Next In Line. It’s a 4 minute track where 2 or more minutes are wasted and any kind of late album momentum is lost. Its more than likely that fans of the band will get onto this immediately, understanding and maybe expecting that the content here will deploy the way it does. For me, it just feels like a gigantic waste of my time.
All For Nothing is the closing piece and lives up to its name. I've looped backwards to the start again, just to see if I pressed play at the wrong time, but no. Its definitely you not me. 5/10
Hexorcist - Evil Reaping Death/Bestiarum Vocabulum (Invictus Records) [Joe Guatieri]
Hexorcist are a Death Metal band out of Miami, Florida, in the United States. They’ve been together since 2019, already having a sizable discography then any band would be happy with two demos, a full-length and two splits to their name. Known for their raw sound, your poor ears won’t last long with the sound being turned all the way up.
A unique situation for me today as I’m not only covering their new LP, Crucificial Imprecations, but also a combo release featuring two remasters, one being their first studio effort Evil Reaping Death and the other one is of their first demo, Bestiarum Vocabulum.
Starting off with their first album, Evil Reaping Death, it presents pummelling drums and bass which reach through your stereo and contort your body into shapes that you didn’t think were possible.
In under 40 minutes it achieves chaos and what it set out to do but at what cost? The crop of songs that flow in and out of each other have a real hitting quality to them, a lot of them with dynamic changes which keep you guessing and your head banging. Hexorcist are definitely showing a lot of love here for classic Death Metal, Raw Black Metal and for sure a lot of old-school Doom too.
Now I haven’t heard the original mix but if this is a remaster then you can definitely here it. A lot of the time in this warts and all approach the bass often gets forgotten about but not here, it seems to be turned all the way up. It’s organic though as slides and curves around the other instruments very well.
As I mentioned beforehand, packaged alongside Evil Reaping Death, you also get the band's first moment with the demo, Bestiarum Vocabulum. This early recording strikes me as more of a full on assault by Hexorcist. What I mean by that is, the instruments come together in one full swoop, comparing it to their other releases, Bestiarum Vocabulum is more like a gun, every little element works together to form a movement, whether the others feels like five archers, shooting their arrows at one target, it’s not the same. 7/10
Hexorcist - Crucificial Imprecations (Invictus Records) [Joe Guatieri]
2026 is a new era for Hexorcist, their last record at this stage was their split with Morbid Messiah which was put out in 2023 and a lot can happen in three years, now Crucificial Imprecations awaits…
The album presents half an hour of power with eight tracks, again keeping things concise which is something that we all like to see. Guess what happens here? Yep full-throttle blasting from every direction, sending you to an early grave.
The drums across the album are the highlight for me, being at times they are so overpowering, they might as well have knocked out the bass and guitar in real-time. Crucificial Imprecations takes on a deep love for Black Metal here, so much so that all of the dynamics and detail are sucked into a black hole.
If you’re looking to be buried by repetition then this record is for you. Compared to the band's previous material it only really has one thing going for it, it’s an evil scientist that focuses on one thing constantly and rolls around in bed endlessly sleeping on that thought and that is destroying the world that created him.
Thankfully it ends before the point where it gets far too much for me, I can only hear the same thing so many times. I’m left hungry for more and I come out of Crucificial Imprecations with the same feeling that I have a lot of the time with Death Metal, if you want to end existence, it doesn’t have to be done in one way.
Hexorcist - Evil Reaping Death/Bestiarum Vocabulum (Invictus Records) [Joe Guatieri]
Hexorcist are a Death Metal band out of Miami, Florida, in the United States. They’ve been together since 2019, already having a sizable discography then any band would be happy with two demos, a full-length and two splits to their name. Known for their raw sound, your poor ears won’t last long with the sound being turned all the way up.
A unique situation for me today as I’m not only covering their new LP, Crucificial Imprecations, but also a combo release featuring two remasters, one being their first studio effort Evil Reaping Death and the other one is of their first demo, Bestiarum Vocabulum.
Starting off with their first album, Evil Reaping Death, it presents pummelling drums and bass which reach through your stereo and contort your body into shapes that you didn’t think were possible.
In under 40 minutes it achieves chaos and what it set out to do but at what cost? The crop of songs that flow in and out of each other have a real hitting quality to them, a lot of them with dynamic changes which keep you guessing and your head banging. Hexorcist are definitely showing a lot of love here for classic Death Metal, Raw Black Metal and for sure a lot of old-school Doom too.
Now I haven’t heard the original mix but if this is a remaster then you can definitely here it. A lot of the time in this warts and all approach the bass often gets forgotten about but not here, it seems to be turned all the way up. It’s organic though as slides and curves around the other instruments very well.
As I mentioned beforehand, packaged alongside Evil Reaping Death, you also get the band's first moment with the demo, Bestiarum Vocabulum. This early recording strikes me as more of a full on assault by Hexorcist. What I mean by that is, the instruments come together in one full swoop, comparing it to their other releases, Bestiarum Vocabulum is more like a gun, every little element works together to form a movement, whether the others feels like five archers, shooting their arrows at one target, it’s not the same. 7/10
Hexorcist - Crucificial Imprecations (Invictus Records) [Joe Guatieri]
2026 is a new era for Hexorcist, their last record at this stage was their split with Morbid Messiah which was put out in 2023 and a lot can happen in three years, now Crucificial Imprecations awaits…
The album presents half an hour of power with eight tracks, again keeping things concise which is something that we all like to see. Guess what happens here? Yep full-throttle blasting from every direction, sending you to an early grave.
The drums across the album are the highlight for me, being at times they are so overpowering, they might as well have knocked out the bass and guitar in real-time. Crucificial Imprecations takes on a deep love for Black Metal here, so much so that all of the dynamics and detail are sucked into a black hole.
If you’re looking to be buried by repetition then this record is for you. Compared to the band's previous material it only really has one thing going for it, it’s an evil scientist that focuses on one thing constantly and rolls around in bed endlessly sleeping on that thought and that is destroying the world that created him.
Thankfully it ends before the point where it gets far too much for me, I can only hear the same thing so many times. I’m left hungry for more and I come out of Crucificial Imprecations with the same feeling that I have a lot of the time with Death Metal, if you want to end existence, it doesn’t have to be done in one way.
It’s easy for a band to make something sound dark but it’s going to take a lot more than that for Hexorcist to scare me. 5/10
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