Man do I love what labels like RidingEasy and Ripple Music are doing, finding lost gems of records and bringing the to the masses via vinyl represses. While RidingEasy focuses mostly on lates 60s/early 70s proto type stuff via their Brown Acid Series and now a whole bunch of cool full length “lost” albums, Ripple has been focusing on the early 2000s with the Under The Desert Floor series, so far bringing to light the amazing record from 2000 by The Awesome Machine and a long out of print record from Glitter Wizard.
While both of those records are killer, my favourite so far is what we have here in volume three, the self-titled record from White Witch Canyon, originally dropped in 2008 and now brought to us via Ripple with an amazing vinyl repress for a whole bunch of fans either happy they can get this again on Ripple procured wax or who are new to the record who are wondering how the hell they missed this the first time.
If you are a fan of the stoner genre you have probably heard and loved the new record from The Watchers from earlier this year. If so, you may recognize the vocals on White Witch Canyon, since both have Tim Narducci singing. While Narducci picks up the guitar in The Watchers, he both sang and played drums on this record. I think there are some similarities between the two bands, but I would saw WWC leans more towards a Kyuss/Monster Magnet with some very unique and out they lyrics while The Watchers are a bit more straight ahead proto/classic metal with stoner leanings. Both are excellent of course, but focusing on WWC, there is this underlying since fiction thing going on lyrically while the stoner riffs pummel you over the heads repeatedly.
The opening track, Ancient Aliens, is a perfect example of what you are in for. I mentioned Kyuss and MM, but throw some Fu Manchu and Clutch type love in there as well and that should help you understand how awesome this is. There is also a sense of humour with WWC, like of the very Kyuss Boom Goes The Dynamite (dig that fuzzy solo) where Narducci shows off his drumming chops too while the Clutch via Fu Manchu of Escape Pod just rules with its amazing riff and killer stoner groove.
This record is filled with top notch stoner rock, be it Four Star Heretic that is soaked in fuzzy heavy psych guitar, Sell Your Soul which brings a heavy blues vibe to the table stoner Screaming Tress maybe?), or Parasitic Stray that reminds me the most of what The Watchers have been putting out there, especially on the vocals and the very Iommi riffing. Could I do without the six-minute spoken word weirdness on Secret Sidewalk, smack dab in the middle of the record? Probably, but points for going way out there with that one. The two closers, The Witch and Thirty Three And One are a one two punch of awesome, closing out an album that should have been considered a stoner rock classic rather than something that needed to be unearthed and repressed so more people could discover it.
The Under The Desert Floor series from Ripple is one of my favourite things this year and White Witch Canyon as volume three only cements my feelings around the records Todd is bringing back to the front from obscurity. White Witch Canyon should have been mandatory stoner rock listening, but we are not too late! You need this in your life. Just wait for what Ripple is bringing with this series next. 9/10
If you are a fan of the stoner genre you have probably heard and loved the new record from The Watchers from earlier this year. If so, you may recognize the vocals on White Witch Canyon, since both have Tim Narducci singing. While Narducci picks up the guitar in The Watchers, he both sang and played drums on this record. I think there are some similarities between the two bands, but I would saw WWC leans more towards a Kyuss/Monster Magnet with some very unique and out they lyrics while The Watchers are a bit more straight ahead proto/classic metal with stoner leanings. Both are excellent of course, but focusing on WWC, there is this underlying since fiction thing going on lyrically while the stoner riffs pummel you over the heads repeatedly.
The opening track, Ancient Aliens, is a perfect example of what you are in for. I mentioned Kyuss and MM, but throw some Fu Manchu and Clutch type love in there as well and that should help you understand how awesome this is. There is also a sense of humour with WWC, like of the very Kyuss Boom Goes The Dynamite (dig that fuzzy solo) where Narducci shows off his drumming chops too while the Clutch via Fu Manchu of Escape Pod just rules with its amazing riff and killer stoner groove.
This record is filled with top notch stoner rock, be it Four Star Heretic that is soaked in fuzzy heavy psych guitar, Sell Your Soul which brings a heavy blues vibe to the table stoner Screaming Tress maybe?), or Parasitic Stray that reminds me the most of what The Watchers have been putting out there, especially on the vocals and the very Iommi riffing. Could I do without the six-minute spoken word weirdness on Secret Sidewalk, smack dab in the middle of the record? Probably, but points for going way out there with that one. The two closers, The Witch and Thirty Three And One are a one two punch of awesome, closing out an album that should have been considered a stoner rock classic rather than something that needed to be unearthed and repressed so more people could discover it.
The Under The Desert Floor series from Ripple is one of my favourite things this year and White Witch Canyon as volume three only cements my feelings around the records Todd is bringing back to the front from obscurity. White Witch Canyon should have been mandatory stoner rock listening, but we are not too late! You need this in your life. Just wait for what Ripple is bringing with this series next. 9/10
Knowing nothing of the band and gleaning much information about the band via the PR sheet attached to the album, I’ve learnt a few things; one being the band is fronted by Chuck Garric, longtime bass player for Alice Cooper; he also shares vocal duties with Calico Cooper - daughter of the aforementioned Alice Cooper - this all makes the cover of Feed My Frankenstein on a previous album an obvious choice as does the Shock Rock sound and visual aesthetic of the band.
There’s an element of Industrial Metal within the sound but more in the vein of White Zombie than Ministry for example; frankly White Zombie are probably a good comparison to make overall.
There are a few “ballad” like tracks in the album but as a whole it’s groove filled riffs and catchy hooks and a very familiar voice upon the track Unreal, Lord Of The Lost’s Chris Harms. Kinetica is the band’s fourth album since first coming together in 2012 and after listening to this I intend to give the back catalogue a listen. 8/10
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut (Rockshots Records) [Paul Scoble]
Jupiter Cyclops are a Phoenix based Rock / Metal band playing a style of hard rock/heavy metal with a very interesting mix of influences. The band was formed in 2019 and features Dustin Lyon on guitar, Jake Melius on bass, Kyle Eades on drums and Aaron Peltz on vocals. Age Of The UFOnaut is the band’s debut album.
There are a few “ballad” like tracks in the album but as a whole it’s groove filled riffs and catchy hooks and a very familiar voice upon the track Unreal, Lord Of The Lost’s Chris Harms. Kinetica is the band’s fourth album since first coming together in 2012 and after listening to this I intend to give the back catalogue a listen. 8/10
Jupiter Cyclops – Age Of The UFOnaut (Rockshots Records) [Paul Scoble]
Jupiter Cyclops are a Phoenix based Rock / Metal band playing a style of hard rock/heavy metal with a very interesting mix of influences. The band was formed in 2019 and features Dustin Lyon on guitar, Jake Melius on bass, Kyle Eades on drums and Aaron Peltz on vocals. Age Of The UFOnaut is the band’s debut album.
The album opens with the (sort of) title track UFOnaut. UFOnaut is a great melding of NWOBHM style riffs over doom/stoner tempo’s and pacing with 80’s hair metal shredding for the solo. The riffs are full of energy with some great guitar harmonies, the tempo is similar to Black Sabbath’s Children Of The Grave or masters of stoner rock, Wo Fat’s The Black Code. This works ridiculously well, particularly the massive singalong chorus, what a way to open an album. Next comes the song Between Worlds, a stomping up-tempo rocker, full of great riffs and awesome energy. The song features a slower and more measured verse but kicks it up a gear for the chorus, the juxtaposition of the two really works well and again we get a great guitar solo.
Sinful Ways is a simple up-tempo rocker with a similar stoner pacing to the opening track. The song has a huge chorus but is probably a little too simple for it’s over five-minute runtime. Next comes the track Doomed, which ironically is mainly NWOBHM. The song reminds me of early (first two albums) Iron Maiden, great energy packed NWOBHM riff, lots of nice Guitar harmonies, a great up-tempo chorus and an absolutely ripping guitar solo. The song comes to an end with one of the biggest 80’s big endings I have heard.
Down From The Inside is a great piece of driving purposeful rock with a great strut. The song has a great chorus (of course it does, everything on this album has a great chorus), and a very good Wah-Wah infused guitar solo. Next comes Chemical Voodoo, a rock song with a purposeful pacing that in places feels relentless. The song has a softer and quieter Bass led section near the middle and a great guitar solo. Although a lot of the song has a relentless feel some of the pacing feels a little too slow, and in these sections the song plods rather than struts.
Next up is the track Way Down Below, which is a driving rock song that I thought was a little reminiscent of the Acid Magus album that was released last year. The song also has a little bit of Grunge in some of the Vocals as well, in places reminding me of Alice In Chains, bringing a little bit of 90’s to the 70’s and 80’s party. The song has a softer section near the end that has a classic rock feel before returning to the rock stomp for a great ending.
Closing the album is the song Lumerian Nights, driving rock with NWOBHM riffs. The verse is minimal with a chorus that is faster and flows really well giving the song a great energy and, of course, there is a great ripping guitar solo. Age Of The UFOnaut is a great piece of hard rock/NWOBOHM. Most of the material is very good, with only the occasional dip in quality. Sinful Ways needs to be shorter, or needs more complexity to hold the attention and Chemical Voodoo could do with an injection of a little more pace, but other than those issues this is a great album, that is a huge amount of fun, a blast of great riffs, awesome shredding solos and (for the most part) great pacing and tempos.
The album isn’t perfect, but for a debut this is really impressive, I’m sure they will get it perfect with album number two. 7/10
Act Of Creation - Moments To Remain (Massacre Records) [GC]
I know this doesn’t really start things off on a positive note but, I have to admit that melodic death metal really isn’t my sort of thing and I have always just kind of avoided listening to it because if I ever have, it never seems to have the desired heaviness to keep me interested?! Aaaaaaaaaanywaay I have to put all that aside for now as today I have the latest album Moments To Remain from German melodic death metal band Act Of Creation.
Bizarrely enough opener, Awake is a bonus track for some reason? It starts off with some staccato riffing and a softly spoken intro that then reintroduces the short sharp guitars and they do create a decent enough sound and its something but I’m not sure that it should classify as death metal, thrash or ‘’modern’’ metal maybe? Come With Me has a galloping rhythm that is a definite Iron Maiden influence, it also reminds me slightly of power metal because of the setup and melody, I expect over the top vocals to kick in at any point, thankfully they don’t but there is some nice melodic vocals showing that vocalist Jessica Kork isn’t just a one trick pony but I kind of expected them so can’t say they surprised me?
Act Of Creation - Moments To Remain (Massacre Records) [GC]
I know this doesn’t really start things off on a positive note but, I have to admit that melodic death metal really isn’t my sort of thing and I have always just kind of avoided listening to it because if I ever have, it never seems to have the desired heaviness to keep me interested?! Aaaaaaaaaanywaay I have to put all that aside for now as today I have the latest album Moments To Remain from German melodic death metal band Act Of Creation.
Bizarrely enough opener, Awake is a bonus track for some reason? It starts off with some staccato riffing and a softly spoken intro that then reintroduces the short sharp guitars and they do create a decent enough sound and its something but I’m not sure that it should classify as death metal, thrash or ‘’modern’’ metal maybe? Come With Me has a galloping rhythm that is a definite Iron Maiden influence, it also reminds me slightly of power metal because of the setup and melody, I expect over the top vocals to kick in at any point, thankfully they don’t but there is some nice melodic vocals showing that vocalist Jessica Kork isn’t just a one trick pony but I kind of expected them so can’t say they surprised me?
Under Friendly Fire does a pretty good job at being the most actual death metal track so far but it still never really seems to avoid sounding like thrash but non the less it’s a solid track and the first one that doesn’t feel slightly too long, Egoist is a full throttle all action go track and has some lovely bouncy riffing mixed in and at just over 2 minutes is a good example that if you don’t over complicate matters you can nail down a really good track simply and quickly, this isn’t the same on Moments To Remain which goes back to the familiar sound but this time slows down at the beginning and once it all springs into gear there is some nice guitar and drum work interweaving but I have heard this type of song tried to be done so many times before so it just feels slightly repetitive and ultimately a bit uninspiring.
Cry Of A Peacecrow is another ‘’bonus track’’ directly in the middle of the album and its just a little acoustic interlude so to call this a bonus is just annoying. Dying Inside then kicks you directly in the teeth and shows that when they want to they CAN write some absolutely savage and unrelenting stuff and you wonder why they don’t always sound like this, the song itself just goes straight for the kill with cutting riffs mixed with some great solo work and the whole thing is a chugging monster and the vocal work is a real highlight, Confront The Truth is another really good track and while it has the thrash edge, it does now definitely feel a lot more death metal and some of the drumming here is top notch!
On Lost Little Soul you can feel the pain in the lyrics as the delivery is straight from the heart its just a shame that the music feels a bit substandard, maybe they held back a little to push the vocals forward and make you focus on them but a delivery like this deserves more from the band! Beyond Reality does not really do much to stand out from the rest of the album and its ok enough thrashy/death metal is feels like an end of album track and so Agonizing Slumber is actually the end track and it’s a bit hit and miss, with some more nice gallop riffing and another good vocal showing but there is to many slowed down parts and it kind of stunts the flow of the track before final ‘’bonus track’’ Into Dreams ends on 45 seconds on pointless droning!??
Not sure what to make of Moments To Remain, it was very good in some places but then also a bit boring in others. Just as they have a couple of songs that really made you sit up and think, hello? It felt like then they then reigned it in and just played safe, so getting a bit repetitive. A decent enough album that I did not hate but also wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend. 6/10
Not sure what to make of Moments To Remain, it was very good in some places but then also a bit boring in others. Just as they have a couple of songs that really made you sit up and think, hello? It felt like then they then reigned it in and just played safe, so getting a bit repetitive. A decent enough album that I did not hate but also wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend. 6/10
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