Reviews: Temple Witch, Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts, Concrete Winds, Executioner's Mask (Reviews By Rich Piva, Matt Bladen, Zak Skane & James Jackson)

Temple Witch - Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand (Wormholedeath Records) [Rich Piva]

Temple Witch is a doom trio out of Ohio who came on the scene back in 2021 with the great debut album, Hand In Hand With Chaos. The band is now back with album number two, the even better Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand, delivered to us by their new label, Wormoledeath Records. Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand sounds bigger and fuller, showing some serious maturity as a band, even with a new drummer in the fold. A nice step forward for a band that showed a ton of promise on their debut.

The opener, Ocean Thousand has some AIC vibes to go along with their plodding doom goodness, but the band does really flip the switch and bring the absolute heavy. Some may not be as cool with the more screamed vocals, but I dig the back and forth with the Layne/Jerry thing they have going on. The solo on this track is very interesting and goes in directions that may not seem to make sense at first, but really helps to make this track stand out. There is an atmospheric post rock feel to the band, which is evident throughout the six tracks on Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand. You get that in the track Knew It Once, but you also get a nice and heavy riff to get you going too. At times the band reminds me of Unsane, but if they slowed it down and took a bunch of Valium before recording (compliment). 

This one has a nice tempo change where about half way through the band picks up the pace and kind of rocks out. What you get from ...This Too Shall Pass is some long form heavy ass doom for ten minutes plus, with some very cool vocals. Spotlights is called out in their bio, and I get it, especially listening to this one. Temple Witch is heavier and more abrasive but I get why they mention them. Chase Tigers Away is in the same vein of the previous track; slow post rock doom, executed excellently. 

Some may see two of the tracks that are smack dab in the middle of the record totaling over 22 minutes as either challenging or even a deal breaker, but hang in, it is worth it. Love the guitar work here. Other Things is the stand out track for me here. I love that they included an all-acoustic song as I did not expect it at all given the first four tracks of Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand, but it works perfectly. Dark and doomy is the theme for the epic closer, Motion, where the bass gets to stand out at times and the heaviness of the band shines through once again.

Some may be scared off by track lengths or whatever, but Ocean Thousand, Mountain Thousand is a deep and wonderfully challenging heavy doom listen that should be experience by anyone who digs any of the modern doom stuff out there today. Do not pass over Temple Witch, this is killer stuff. 8/10

Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts - Rogue To Redemption (Gypsy Rose Records) [Matt Bladen]

Tuk Smith comes from a bygone era, an era where stacked heel boots, drainpipe flares and specs of glitter were all part of the outfit for being a rockstar, you can compare him to the likes of Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, David Bowie, T-Rex and Mott The Hoople, it's glammy power pop, with a bit of punk that seems to be resurging lately with acts such as The Struts and of course Biters who Tuk is the singer of. Returning to his home of Georgia after being dropped by a label and not having the co-writers that he had been used to.

 
Rogue To Redemption was written in solitude just Tuk and piano, inspired by the story driven song writing of Lynott, Springsteen and Petty, these are snapshots of the world today from an artist rediscovering how to be an artist. It's his second solo album but his most personal for sure, the songs such as End Of An Era, coming from the heart, well a heart that has ingested a lot of Ian Hunter. Tuk is a rock n roll survivor, he's been there, done that and the t-shirt is crumpled in the corner next to a bottle of Jack Daniels and a guitar.

 
It's packed with radio anthems such as the Lizzy/Warwick-like Glorybound or Still A Dreamer, the acoustic balladry of Blood On The Stage and the stinging power pop of Lost Boy, the hooks are barbed, but lay under a sugary coating, while the lyrics are honest and introspective but have a snide confidence. Chronicling his journey into the artist he is in 2024, Rogue To Redemption is just that, a journey from defeat into victory. 8/10

Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds (Sepulchral Voice Records) [Zak Skane]

Concrete Winds are not afraid to put the extreme into extreme metal with their combination of black metal, grind core and death metal. The bands use of boundary pushing elements takes what was ever polished about any of the previously stated subgenres and wraps it up in barbwire. Their weaponized audio assault has been consistent since their 2019s debut Primitive Force followed by their 2021 Nerve Butcher whilst also keeping it tried and tested with their upcoming self titled album.

The guitars still sound as chaotic with their jarring discord riffs that drives songs like their opening track Permeant Dissonance and Virulent Glow like a demon hornet on crack, whilst the frantic demonic Slayer influenced solos are still signature in songs like Daylight Amputations and Infernal Repeater where whammy bar squeals rise your anxiety levels whilst it drops your heart rate with there dive bombs. The chaotic blast beats that M have been created still add fuel to the fire to their chaotic sound but songs like Subterranean Persuasion and Systematic Distortion where M just hits the kit with murderous intent adds dynamics to the chaos along with PJs guitars and vocals. 

Speaking of which PJ’s vocal delivery still brings in the anger in classic grindcore fashion channelling a more angry Barney Greenway before being assigned to anger management. The main fresh sounding highlights in this release contains these Nine Inch Nails and Code Orange styled industrial sections in tracks like Hell Trace where you hear dark web simulated soundscapes of distorted pulses and manipulated vocals gasping and stuttering, whilst their closing track Pounding Devotion gives us looped guitar discourses before the track is finally closed with the industrial samples.

Concrete Winds third release plays it safe with songs like Permeant Dissonance and Daylight Amputations but also tiptoeing into the unknown as per their debut release Primitive Force by experimenting with industrial loops in tracks like Hell Trace Pounding Devotion. For fans of Nails, Napalm Death and Code Orange. 7/10.

Executioner’s Mask - Almost There (Seeing Red Records) [James Jackson]

Hailing from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Executioner’s Mask are a Post Punk/Goth Rock act, Almost There is their third album following on from Despair Anthems and Winterlong, released in 2020 and 2022 respectively.

There’s a fuzzy distorted effect to the guitars that at times makes it hard to pick out the riffs from the mix, as equally hard to understand are the vocals and whilst they’re not growled, screamed or screeched as in other genres, there’s an echo effect added that could potentially be turning the most interesting and unique message into a near incomprehensible drone.

Whilst I’ve always tried, as best as humanly possible, to not judge a book by its cover; you sometimes have to judge it upon its first chapter and if that doesn’t grab you then the rest is sure to be as equally unimpressive; there are eight tracks altogether upon the album and after listening to the first two tracks, the rest of the album becomes a bit of a blur and somewhere around the fifth, possibly sixth track I lost interest completely and moved on.

 
The songs seemed to meld into one another, a mess of droning vocals and mediocre instrumentation, this one is lost on me. 3/10