Red Sun Atacama - Darwin (Mrs Red Sounds Records) [Rich P]
There is some killer heavy/stoner/psych rock coming out of France, and there is not a better example than the new record, Darwin, from Red Sun Atacama. The Paris trio produce some Fu Manchu/Kyuss inspired desert/stoner rock with some more psych leanings and some serious punk rock energy, and energy which is refreshing from what most bands in the genre are doing today.
The description above is one full display right off the bat (after the brief opening interlude) with the nine-minute track Furies, which brings the kitchen sink of goodness. The opening could be right off of a Kyuss record and lays that desert rock groundwork and flows nicely right into a serious punk inspired, up-tempo ripper, with vocals practically being spit at you and with a gallop that gets you moving, only to be led to a slowed down, killer, psych inspired shredding session, then right back on the horse, galloping down the desert road on the way to the shroom farm. All of this over the first full track. Be ready because it’s going to knock you off your feet. But next you get some time to catch your breath with a chill psych opening to the next track Antres, until about the 3:30 mark where you are back up on that galloping desert horse ripping up the dirt road.
The vocals throughout Darwin, amongst other things, is what make Red Sun Atacama stand out. I am not sure I can compare vocalist Clement Marquez to anyone in the space today, and the delivery and vocal style fit perfectly with the music. Antres also gives guitarist Vincent Hospital center stage, everything from a ripper of a solo to a feedback and acid drenched interlude about seven minutes in. Excellent stuff. Echoes leans way more towards the punk side but punk with some heavy psych guitars, and did I hear some cowbell in there? Ripper all the way, except for the twenty or so seconds where you catch your breath only to rip for the rest of the track, and that guitar work is something to behold.
The galloping groove continues with Revvelator, a non-stop ripper trip once again highlighting the guitar work and the “can’t stop won’t stop” pace found throughout Darwin. Ribbons brings more of the same excellence. Riffs, those unique vocals, some very well place temp changes, that ripping guitar and surprises at every turn, including an absolute freak out at about the three-minute mark that will leave you breathless.
For a trio, Red Sun Atacama make such a huge sound. This record is an absolute ripper. High paced action, amazing guitar work, unique vocals, and an energy that is missing in a lot of the stoner/desert stuff you hear today. Red Sun Atacama have a year end list candidate on their hands with Darwin. Highly recommended. 9/10
Yatra – Born Into Chaos (Prosthetic Records) [Rick Eaglestone]
Maryland’s Yatra once again serve up their own slice of brutal death metal with new album Born Into Chaos. Right from the outset this album pulls no punches Death Cantation it swarms in like a tornado taking out everyone in its path without the chance to catch a breath before title track Born Into Chaos seeps through with heart pounding drum patterns.
Highlight track of the album for me has to be Wrath Of The Warmaster as its feels like a masterclass in OSDM throw into the mix that it still maintains mind numbing heaviness throughout is just needs to be played loud – challenge willingly accepted. Next up is Terminate By The Sword which is just the perfect follow up track.
Reign Of Terror fires in and has earned itself the honour of being the ringtone on my new phone it is just a cacophony of riffs & beats. Only one word required for the longest track of the album, aptly named Terrorizer – I can see this one being a live crowd favourite in the future. I do not know if Omens Of Fire was influenced by the albums stunning artwork, but it immediately makes me refer back to it and I think I must have looked at it for the duration of the track but then when you have Paolo Girardi & Mark Riddick involved it’s bound to happen.
The final offering comes in the form of Tormentation and again it’s straight up no nonsense brutal death metal which really has been the entire theme of this album throughout.Horrendously unapologetic in delivery 9/10
GWAR - The New Dark Ages (PIT Records) [Erick Willand]
Scumdogs rejoice! Those galactic barbarian bastards known as GWAR have returned to this festering mud ball to once again wage their filthy, drug fueled war against all life. Armed with mighty sonic weaponry, insatiable battle lust and a bombastic disregard for political correctness they storm the streaming services and bring in their wake, The New Dark Ages! The first proper studio release since 2017 and only their second without legendary gruesome frontman Dave Brockie, The New Dark Ages continues GWAR's wacky adventure themed album style with new characters and an official graphic novel called GWAR: In The Douverse of Absurdity. A ripping tale about GWAR facing off against even worse alternate versions of themselves, an idea that gives me KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park vibes in all the right ways.
The album clocks in at an hour and 6 with 15 tracks and is packed with plenty of GWAR-ish stylistic flair including plenty of genre blending and tongue-in-cheek lyrical approach to the clearly bizarre state of the world. The first two tracks, The New Dark Age and Blood Libel are both good songs and clearly set the stage, but for me the album really kicks in with Berserker Mode, which has that classic get-up-and-in-the-pit vibe that drew me to GWAR in the first place. Motherfucking Liar and Unto The Breach keep things moving and then comes track 6, Completely Fucked and this hooks instantly with the swirling romp I was hoping for. The part at 2:52 where the song stops and Blothar speaks -but how are you- before the song kicks back is hilarious. The Cutter is another full throttle GWAR fest and it feels like that’s going to be a crowd favorite this tour cycle. Now, Rise Again is arguably a good song, but feels placed in the wrong spot in the flow of the album, like hitting a pothole on your bike that’s deeper than you think and you almost go right over the bars, you manage to hang on and keep riding, and smack right into The Beast Will Eat Itself. To be fair, The Beast Will Eat Itself is a good song about an ever corrupted cyberspace virus, I think.
The following three tracks, Venom Of The Platypus, Ratcather, and my favorite song on the album, Bored To Death are all in the line of that ruckus punk-metal we have all come to love GWAR for. The last three tracks, collectively called the Death Whistle Suite, are a bit weirder and another stumbling block for me, they add almost twenty extra minutes to the album. Why this wasn’t put out afterward as an EP is beyond me, would have been great for a pre-Halloween drop. Though I have to admit the 10:53 minute Deus Ex Monstrum ending, mostly ambient piece is mind blowing simply because it comes from GWAR. I can’t end this without mentioning the cover art of Alex Horley and how awesome it is, makes for very cool merch. I’m also looking forward to checking out the very nice hardcover comic that you can order with this release. Enjoy dudes! 7/10
Sasquatch - Fever Fantasy (Mad Oak Records) [Quinn Mattfeld]
If you are a fan of LA based Stoner rock trio Sasquatch and their five previous LPs, you won’t find anything not to like on their 2022 release Fever Fantasy. If, like me, you find their discography weighed down by what has clearly been a comfortable formula for them from the beginning, you won’t find much to love either. Creative stagnation begins to threaten a band after three or four albums that are more or less indistinguishable; after six, calcification sets in. Don’t get me wrong, the musicianship is solid and very well executed; the mix is great and some of the riffs are thrilling in their low-end nastiness but unlike the band’s stated musical influences, Corrosion Of Conformity and Soundgarden, Sasquatch follows more closely to the creative arc of Brian Johnson era AC/DC. Namely, there really isn’t one.
It’s telling that the band credits their sound not to these elder rock legends as a whole but to specific periods in their musical trajectory i.e. “Deliverance-era Corrosion of Conformity” or “Early Soundgarden.” Not even the sheer energy with which Sasquatch attacks every track on Fever Fantasy can save them from themselves: the result isn’t the high-octane tour-de-force they may have intended but rather just another set of songs from a band you may or may not like all contained within an increasingly generic soundscape and emotional stakes that start at a six and stay there for 42 minutes and two seconds.
Having musical proclivities is a great gift when combined with a sense of risk and creative curiosity. It allows bands like Mastodon or Gojira, Baroness or Elder to grow and change and evolve musically while always remaining recognizable as themselves. On Fever Fantasy Sasquatch sounds increasingly like a band struggling to find its way out of a hall of mirrors. Or perhaps they aren’t struggling at all. Perhaps they are perfectly happy right where they are at. 6/10
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