I was admittedly extremely late to the Blue Oyster Cult party. Sure, I knew the hits and maybe one more layer deep, but it has only been relatively recently that I have done the deep dive and come to a realization how awesome BoC is.
My lateness has pushed me to ingest all things BoC at a fever pace, which is why I was so excited to get me ears on the second in a series of three 50th anniversary shows the band did back in September 2022 where each night they played one of their first three albums front to back and closed with a hits a deep cuts set.
The first in the series covering their debut was great, especially for a band who has been doing it for this long, so there was no reason to believe that night two, covering the great Tyranny and Mutation record would be any different, and it was not, as the set is great, the band sounds excellent, and the second half of the setlist had some great choices.
The first half of the record, covering that great second album, is the band in 2024 form hanging in there to deliver the most scorching set a group of 70-somethings could deliver outside of the Rolling Stones. Of course, the one-two punch of Hot Rails To Hell and 7 Screaming Diz-Busters are the highlights, but it was very cool to hear some of the deep cuts live, like Baby Ice Dog and Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl).
The first half of the record, covering that great second album, is the band in 2024 form hanging in there to deliver the most scorching set a group of 70-somethings could deliver outside of the Rolling Stones. Of course, the one-two punch of Hot Rails To Hell and 7 Screaming Diz-Busters are the highlights, but it was very cool to hear some of the deep cuts live, like Baby Ice Dog and Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl).
The rest of the set had your hits like Reaper, Godzilla, and Burnin’ For You, belted out as well as they could be at this point in the band’s career, but also some lesser known tracks, like Perfect Water and Lips In The Hills that are real treats for the BoC fanatics. Great stuff, as night two might have surpassed one with the overall setlist.
Blue Oyster Cult is so great, and the fact that they are doing these shows 50 years in and are getting so much attention is a testament to a underrated and underappreciated band that helped mold and create the heavy rock we have today. Yeah, they guys are up there in age and at some points you can tell, but if you are a BoC fan go listen to this and enjoy while we still can. Can’t wait for night three. 8/10
Fireball Ministry - Beneath The Desert Floor, Vol. 4: Their Rock Is Not Our Rock (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]
When I saw the announcement that Ripple Music was now working with one of my all-time favourite bands, Fireball Ministry, for the amazing Beneath The Desert Floor series I could not be more stoked. My favourite label with one of my favourites and in my opinion one of the most underrated heavy stoner bands out there is my match made in wherever you may enjoy the afterlife. The relationship between Ripple and FM would start with a repressing their amazing discography on vinyl. My first message to Ripple HQ was please start with The Second Great Awakening, one of my favourite albums of all time.
Oxygen Destroyer - Guardian Of The Universe (Redefining Darkness Records) [Matt Bladen]
Kaiju sized death metal comes to level your city on the third album from Oxygen Destroyer. A band formed to pay homage to the Japanese Kaiju films, they're named after the weapon that killed Godzilla (Gojira) in the 1954 original that began this long running series of monster movies. Guardian Of The Universe focuses on the Heisei Gamera trilogy, Gamera being "an ancient, bio-engineered creature from Atlantis, created for the purpose of defending the people of Atlantis from Gyaos, a bat-like creature". Yep there's more than just Godzilla and Mothra and you could delve into the lore all day but this is a record so let's get to the music.
Guardian Of The Universe is packed with blistering blackened death/thrash, reminding me of the raw savagery of Vader, Hate and even Nile from the conceptual sense. Drums that rarely let up, blast beating coming from Chris Craven is inhuman, no wonder he plies his trade elsewhere in black metal bands. Paul Wight’s bass sets a steamrolling pace when they do get into a groove, while Lord Kaiju and Joey Walker add lots of syncopated/counterpointed downtuned riffs, brief moments of tremolo picking and use the distortion of thrash bands to bring a nastiness.
Tremble in fear at this Kaiju metal as they convey epic battles through snarling extreme metal. 8/10
Kurokuma - Of Amber And Sand (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
You like riffs? Great Nottingham trio Kurokuma deliver riffs hot and fresh from their psych/sludge/doom/death kitchen. The trio pick liberally from all of these genres, mix them all together and come up with a unique, sonic landscape that on Of Amber And Sand confronts the concept of time, exploring temporality and eternity.
Glasses firmly on to really concentrate and volume up to make sure it rattles around in your brain properly, you start Of Amber And Sand with a Cockrel call, beckoning the the first cascading load of riffage, the tracks linked by a few segues to keep the atmospheres. These are able to link smashers such as Death No More with the psychedelic doom Fenjaan.
Much of Kurokuma's music is highly instrumental, locked into grooves such as Crux Ansata where they can use space to bring a hefty throb as Chronoclasm is the marathon final track which brings all of their varying sounds together. Of Amber And Sand seals Kurokuma's standing as an audio hallucinogen. 8/10
Blue Oyster Cult is so great, and the fact that they are doing these shows 50 years in and are getting so much attention is a testament to a underrated and underappreciated band that helped mold and create the heavy rock we have today. Yeah, they guys are up there in age and at some points you can tell, but if you are a BoC fan go listen to this and enjoy while we still can. Can’t wait for night three. 8/10
Fireball Ministry - Beneath The Desert Floor, Vol. 4: Their Rock Is Not Our Rock (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]
When I saw the announcement that Ripple Music was now working with one of my all-time favourite bands, Fireball Ministry, for the amazing Beneath The Desert Floor series I could not be more stoked. My favourite label with one of my favourites and in my opinion one of the most underrated heavy stoner bands out there is my match made in wherever you may enjoy the afterlife. The relationship between Ripple and FM would start with a repressing their amazing discography on vinyl. My first message to Ripple HQ was please start with The Second Great Awakening, one of my favourite albums of all time.
Todd is smart though, and actually went with the band’s third album, 2005’s Their Rock Is Not Our Rock, which makes so much sense and is so much more impactful for the fans since it has never been pressed on wax before. This is why I just buy records and don’t run a label. If you are not familiar with Ripple’s Beneath The Desert Floor series, the label is grabbing some lost or underappreciated classics from the early 2000s or so and giving them the Ripple treatment, all for our benefit, with some killer vinyl options.
We have seen records from Glitter Wizard, White Witch Canyon, and The Awesome Machine, with a release from Australia’s Rollerball coming soon. Such awesome material, with Their Rock Is Not Our Rock fitting in perfectly and poised to bring a new fanbase to the great Fireball Ministry.
If you are not familiar with Fireball Ministry, first, what is wrong with you, and second, they play stoner rock with nods to who you think you would give nods to as influences. The difference with this band compared to all the other who play this still is how they combine the heavy riffs with being catchy as hell. There is not a more hummable stoner band than Fireball Ministry. Earworms abound on all their stuff, with Their Rock Is Not Our Rock being no exception. Right off the bat you get it with the opening track It Flies Again.
If you are not familiar with Fireball Ministry, first, what is wrong with you, and second, they play stoner rock with nods to who you think you would give nods to as influences. The difference with this band compared to all the other who play this still is how they combine the heavy riffs with being catchy as hell. There is not a more hummable stoner band than Fireball Ministry. Earworms abound on all their stuff, with Their Rock Is Not Our Rock being no exception. Right off the bat you get it with the opening track It Flies Again.
You get the great vocals from James Rota and killer riffs from Emily Burton and a melody that will stay with you all day. The band has perfected the stoner rock versus chorus verse formula in the best kind of way. The production on Their Rock is perfect and captures what this band should always sound like from the studio. Some of my favorites FM tracks come from this record, including The Broken, Two Tears, and Rising From The Deep, but honestly this whole record kill from end to end and to now have Their Rock available on vinyl is next level excellent.
So, this whole thing gets the highest marks from me. Fireball Ministry, their amazing third record for the first time on vinyl, the fact that Ripple is repressing all of their records over time, and the entirety of the Beneath The Desert Floor series makes this whole thing a 10 all around. A must listen across the board. 10/10
So, this whole thing gets the highest marks from me. Fireball Ministry, their amazing third record for the first time on vinyl, the fact that Ripple is repressing all of their records over time, and the entirety of the Beneath The Desert Floor series makes this whole thing a 10 all around. A must listen across the board. 10/10
Oxygen Destroyer - Guardian Of The Universe (Redefining Darkness Records) [Matt Bladen]
Kaiju sized death metal comes to level your city on the third album from Oxygen Destroyer. A band formed to pay homage to the Japanese Kaiju films, they're named after the weapon that killed Godzilla (Gojira) in the 1954 original that began this long running series of monster movies. Guardian Of The Universe focuses on the Heisei Gamera trilogy, Gamera being "an ancient, bio-engineered creature from Atlantis, created for the purpose of defending the people of Atlantis from Gyaos, a bat-like creature". Yep there's more than just Godzilla and Mothra and you could delve into the lore all day but this is a record so let's get to the music.
Guardian Of The Universe is packed with blistering blackened death/thrash, reminding me of the raw savagery of Vader, Hate and even Nile from the conceptual sense. Drums that rarely let up, blast beating coming from Chris Craven is inhuman, no wonder he plies his trade elsewhere in black metal bands. Paul Wight’s bass sets a steamrolling pace when they do get into a groove, while Lord Kaiju and Joey Walker add lots of syncopated/counterpointed downtuned riffs, brief moments of tremolo picking and use the distortion of thrash bands to bring a nastiness.
Tremble in fear at this Kaiju metal as they convey epic battles through snarling extreme metal. 8/10
Kurokuma - Of Amber And Sand (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
You like riffs? Great Nottingham trio Kurokuma deliver riffs hot and fresh from their psych/sludge/doom/death kitchen. The trio pick liberally from all of these genres, mix them all together and come up with a unique, sonic landscape that on Of Amber And Sand confronts the concept of time, exploring temporality and eternity.
Glasses firmly on to really concentrate and volume up to make sure it rattles around in your brain properly, you start Of Amber And Sand with a Cockrel call, beckoning the the first cascading load of riffage, the tracks linked by a few segues to keep the atmospheres. These are able to link smashers such as Death No More with the psychedelic doom Fenjaan.
Much of Kurokuma's music is highly instrumental, locked into grooves such as Crux Ansata where they can use space to bring a hefty throb as Chronoclasm is the marathon final track which brings all of their varying sounds together. Of Amber And Sand seals Kurokuma's standing as an audio hallucinogen. 8/10
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