Grey Giant - Conversus In Lutum (Self Released)
From Santander in Spain, Grey Giant are a stoner band who draw heavily on the 90's desert rock scene as well as many bands in the Greek stoner scene too. A trio consisting of Mario Hospital "Pitu" (bass and vocals), brothers Javi and Hugo Echeverría (guitars) and Pablo Salmón (drums), they fixate on long instrumental passages of Karma To Burn on Mud & Sorrow, which waits a long time for the vocals to kick in.
Then we go traversing through the dunes with Kyuss on Ostrich Head and Bright Eyes, as I'm A Mosher has the psychedelic stomp of 1000mods and also Nightstalker. The album title translates to Turned Into Mud and record sounds as if it is turning to mud with these tracks, the riffs are syrupy, thick with fuzz and the bass grumbles underneath it moving the monolithic grooves with the drummer keeping the movement steady and regimented.
If you were brought up with the desert rock scene the mind expanding riffs of Grey Giant will snap you back to that era with one reverbed guitar riff. 8/10
Sykofant - Sykofant (Self Released)Sykofant are a Norwegian prog band and this self titled album is packed with broad prog rock soundscapes. Anyone who did English GCSE will probably know that a sycophant is "someone who praises powerful or rich people in a way that is not sincere", well there is tonnes of praise for bigger bands on this record but there is definitely sincerity.
Most the music here pays serious homage to Pink Floyd, drawing influence from their entire career as 60's psych rock evolved into grandiose 70's experimentation and into 80's anthems, the use of jazz, funk, fusion and many other influences allow them to take their music to some interesting places, similarly to another obvious influence, Rush who they ape convincingly on the last moments of Between Air And Water and most of Monuments Of Old.
Sykofant have a really high level of progressive in their music, the guitar interplay on a track such as Between The Moments is dreamy, with a hint of Opeth from what I think is a mellotron. The bass is thick and played as a lead instrument on Monuments Of Old for instance, while the drums lay down steady grooves and dictate the pace changes. What was interesting to me about this album is how it takes a few listens to really understand the music, my only major quibble being with the vocal which are really a little too rough and unrefined.
If you give it time then Sykofant's debut will reveal it's wonders to you. 8/10
The Fires Below - Thorns (Self Released)
The Fires Below are from London and they play big riffing heavy rock, punk and metal slamming together in the same band. The Fires Below are very similar to more recognized acts such as Bokassa, Red Fang, Orange Goblin (Thorns) and Slomosa too.
Made up of Smithy (vocals/guitar), Si (bass), Del (drums), and Sam (guitar), they have been around since 2022 and they have an EP under their belt so they're definitely prioritising getting as much music out to people as they can. Their follow up EP gets going with the feral Worth, add some punk noise on No Man's Land and bring a chug to the aggressive Plastic Utopia, To Far To Reach.
Having spent the the last few years touring like hell, they have brought all this experience to their second EP and it shows with five hard hitting, heavy riffing tracks. Ones to watch, The Fires Below burn extra bright here. 7/10
Fight The Fight - Shah Of Time (Indie Recordings)
Another Norwegian prog band, but Fight The Fight are much more on the heavier end of the scale than Skykofant. Shah Of Time is the follow up to their 2017 debut and they have updated their line up, notably getting Baard Kolstad of Leprous behind the drum kit and their music now features a very modern prog metal. First song Serpents builds on the repeating electronics for some djenty, modern riffs and guttural vocals that go clean in the chorus.
But there's more to it, Middle Eastern percussion is abound on this concept album. It's been written over a period of two years but came from a very creative time in which they just started to write. With Kolstad behind the kit, there's a lot of Leprous links in the sound, his drum patterns on Heart Of Stone keeping that propulsive power that's at the heart of Leprous, acoustic drum set linking well with the electronic percussion, he's actually given free reign to do as he pleases, talent fully on display but never undermining the other members.
With cinematics of AI leading into the chunky beginnings of djenter Alien, though it quickly shifts towards industrial ambience while 12800 is a short blast of Meshuggah with a longer one coming on In Memory which also goes a bit Vola in the middle. Shah Of Time boldly invites you into modern heavy prog, bursting with electronic help and start stop riffs. 7/10
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