Rock – Page 5 – 7th Level Music

Review: MOTSUS – Atlas

Belgian stoner metal trio MOTSUS have returned from the galaxy next door with a new record, Atlas, that continues their exploration of heavy riffs and cosmic themes. “Atlas” can refer to the character of Greek myth who held the world upon his back, never succumbing to its heavy weight, or the comet discovered by the Atlas telescope in Chile in July 2025. The album’s cover seems to be a drawing of a futuristic science research outpost / doomsday shelter, possibly built from storage containers, and, knowing MOTSUS’ prior output, is probably on another planet or even floating in space.

“Driver” is suitable for playing while in orbit or for terraforming a distant planet with its rumbling drums and chugging guitars. “Duna” downshifts into trippy, melty psych-rock and lets you drift for over eight minutes along some gravity well that is either holding up or pulling down the planet, depending on your perspective.

The heavy sounds of “Exploder, Pt. II” are great. You’ll find yourself slowly head-banging as it rolls around your head and the room and the air around you. It fills every space for almost ten minutes until “Short Notice” gives you a two-minute rest before “Turboslak” shows up to pull you into an asteroid field in deep space, and you’re not sure if you’ll come out of it with one hundred percent hull integrity. The guitars and drums hammer like rocks of various sizes bouncing off the ship while you start landing procedures on one that looks like a good place to build the structure on the album’s cover.

Atlas is another good one from MOTSUS. Put it on, fire the ignition, and take off with it.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Tom of MOTSUS.]

Review: 88Kasyo Junrei – Hachi Tasu Kyu

It’s difficult to describe 88Kasyo Junrei (“Pilgrimage to 88 Places”). They tend to keep a lot of stuff about the band secret, only release their albums through their own label (PPR – Psychedelic Progressive Revolution), rarely translate their lyrics into any other language in print (and even leave them cryptic in Japanese, preferring fans interpret their songs however they’d like), and have only played outside Japan once (in France in 2019). I found out about them by stumbling upon one of their music videos (“Saramato” – a 2023 song about a utopian city that exists either in their minds, in another dimension, or in the future) on YouTube while going down a rabbit hole of Japanese metal bands like Ningen Isu and Bo Ningen.

Their newest album (the ninth in fourteen years), Hachi Tasu Kyu (“8 Plus 9”), is a massive wallop (two discs) of prog-rock, psychedelic trips, and metal shredding mantras. Most of the songs on the album, and their catalog as a whole, have prominent Buddhist and Shinto themes (as also reflected in the band’s name).

Opener “Nōsōkyoku” (“Brain Damage”, a single released in 2024) tosses you head-first into their wild world with stunning guitar work from Katzuya Shimizu. “Yaoyoroz” has grand sweeps of heavy riffs mixed with shoegaze drone…and drummer Kenzo never lets up the whole time, sounding like he must be a cyborg by how relentless and exact his drumming is. “Fukyōon” (“Dischord”) is the first single off the album, and it’s a great choice as it showcases each of the member’s talents. Bassist and vocalist Margarette Hiroi is on fire throughout it with his tension-building and releasing vocals and insane riffs, while Shimizu continues burning the place down with his shredding and Kenzo plays so hard and fast it sounds like he’s trying to drill to the Earth’s core with his kit.

The groove and funk of “Chikagoro Dō Shiteru?” (“What Have You Been Up To?”) and “Yukō” is slick. Both are fun tracks showing that 88Kasyo Junrei could be a prog-funk band anytime they want. After the brief “Insuon 1” (“Instrumental 1”), we get the frantic, rocking “Ale.!!”

“Zekkyō NOW!” (“Shout NOW!”) starts out with ripping thrash metal guitar from Shimizu and then Hiroi and Kenzo are off to the races, putting down a jaw-dropping groove that never lets up for a moment. The album’s “Unlucky Side” ends with “Furafura” (“Nirvana”) – a ballad-like track with Kenzo’s big drum fill flourishes, Hiroi’s bass a skipping stone across still water, and Shimizu’s guitar ranging from shoegaze to psych-jazz tones.

On the second disc (the “Lucky Side”), we have several singles that 88Kasyo Junrei have released since 2021 that haven’t been collected on an album until now. “Naraku Subuūfā” (“Hell’s Bells” – first released in 2022) is the first, sounding like it’s being played through an old radio at first, and then it bursts into a fast rocker (with vocals) after about a minute. Then comes “Insuon 2” (“Instrumental 2”), which shows off even more of their prog-chops. “Kichiku” (“Brute / “The Dark Side of the Moon” – also from 2022) brings forth more of the band’s love of grunge-metal, as some of it sounds like it was heavily influenced by Alice in Chains.

Hiroi’s bass groove on “Deishun” (“Muddy Springtime” / “Dusty Springfield”) will leave you speechless. Speaking of being gobsmacked, wait until you hear “Saramato” (“Paradise City”). I don’t know how Kenzo plays it without collapsing from exhaustion. If this song doesn’t make you a fan, I don’t know what will. “Garakuta no Sabaku” (“Desert Moon” / “Desert of Impurity and Rubbish”) has a cool, strolling groove throughout it, complete with a short drum solo from Kenzo. “Maka-maka-maka” (“A Love Supreme”) is bonkers. You’re not sure which member is playing faster.

“HOTOTOGISU” (“Silly Love Songs” / “Lesser Cuckoo”) is, unfortunately, not a cover of the Wings song (which would be amazing), but it’s just as quirky and fun. “Maen” (“Desire” / “Demon Flame”) reminds me of early 2000s alternative metal before it became overrun with “bro-rock” and “nu-metal” and was still experimental and not just cookie-cutter rock. It blends into the short and chaotic “8989” to wrap up the journey

It’s a stunning record, one that makes you want to dig up everything they have and then fly to Japan to catch them live even once.

Keep your mind open.

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Hold onto your hats, U.K. Barren Womb are coming.

For the first time ever, Barren Womb are bringing their incendiary live show to the UK. In March/April, the duo will rip through 11 dates from Brighton to Dundee, presenting their unique brand of heavy noise rock. For over 15 years, the Nordic noise rock powerhouse has been a primordial force in the ever-evolving international heavy underground. Once described as “easy listening for the hard of hearing”, the duo of Timo Silvola (drums/vocals) and Tony Gonzalez (guitar/vocals) conjure an unholy racket that is as unorthodox as it is weirdly catchy. Stark minimalism, grinding repetition and quiet-to-loud dynamics are all essential parts of Barren Womb’s primitive approach to punk rock, creating a rowdy backdrop for howling laments about the shared dystopian fever dream more commonly known as modern life. “There are no tracks or trickery involved here”, explains Gonzalez. “What you get is pummelling, dynamic drums, heavy riffs through stacks of amps, on-the-fly loops and a tandem vocal attack that ranges from piercing screams to soothing melodies”.

With their energetic performances, the duo often leaves audiences wondering how such a wall-of-sound can be built by solely two people. A rather simple recipe at its core: an authentic human experience centered around connection and chemistry, and there really is no better place to take part in this experience than in small clubs like the ones set up for this tour. Talking about the expectations on the upcoming dates, Tony Gonzalez stresses: “Through hard work, determination and old school punk routine, Barren Womb has taken us to corners of the world beyond our wildest dreams, but so far the UK has eluded us. This is finally about to change and we could hardly be more excited for it. All the venues we’ll be visiting look amazing and the bands we’re going to share stages with sound incredible, so all systems are definitely go. We’ll bring the fire straight from the Norwegian underground, hope to see all you fine folks there!”

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dan at Discipline PR.]

Review: Mandy, Indiana – URGH

At first listen to Mandy, Indiana‘s new album, URGH, you’re not sure what’s happening. The first track, “Sevastopol,” hits you with industrial synths, robot vocals, thudding drums, and warped orchestral sounds all in the same track.

URGH, like all Mandy, Indiana (who actually hail from Manchester in the UK) records, is multi-layered (like the album’s cover) with its instrumentation and subjects, but the overall theme seems to be rage. Mandy, Indiana are, like most of us, just pissed off right now and not afraid to call people out on their bullshit. The album’s title could be spoken as a tired sigh, a guttural growl, a response to a gut punch, or a grunt of hard effort.

“Magazine” tackles one of their favorite subjects – the objectification of women and the impossible standards women are expected to meet. “try saying” mixes video game bloops with wild processed drum sounds from Alex Macdougall and looped French vocals from Valentine Caulfield.

“Dodecahedron,” believe it or not, reminds me of early, heavier Art of Noise tracks. “A Brighter Tomorrow” could be a rallying call or a warning, depending on which side of history you’re choosing. I lean more toward it being a warning of sorts since Scott Fair‘s guitars sound like alarms blaring in the distance. “Life Hex” is a rager and feels like the bubbling anger under the surface of so many of us.

“ist halt so” combines big drums hits with guitars that sound like a belt sander on its last bits of battery charge while Caulfield commands your attention with her snarled vocal delivery. “Sicko” throbs with thick synths and electro-bass and includes guest bars from Billy Woods. “Cursive” is a bumping and bubbling techno track with beats that blend industrial pulse with tribal dance rhythms.

URGH ends with “I’ll Ask Her,” a wicked takedown of toxic masculinity, women’s beauty standards, and dudes who are such pricks that they don’t even realize their own friends are calling them out on it. Caulfield has made it no secret that she was dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault (and other health issues, along with Macdougall having his own health problems) while writing this album. She and the rest of her bandmates pull no punches on the song or anywhere else on the record.

It’s an urgent record, a powerful record, a cathartic record, an inspiring record. It’s a record we need right now to get us out of the housefire, get our friends, family, and neighbors, out of theirs, and then find the bastards who lit the matches.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: Scattered Purgatory – Post Purgatory

I’m not sure how to accurately describe Scattered Purgatory‘s new album, Post Purgatory, but I’m also not sure it’s possible. The Taipei duo blend multiple genres well: Trip-hop, industrial, motorik, synthwave, a bit of goth. The cover looks like an upside-down photo of a flooded underpass with a city (Taipei?) in the background. The world was turned upside-down for the band during the pandemic, and they emerged from it, like all of us, a bit puzzled by how time and space worked and what was certain. Human relationships and airy expanses craved during isolation now felt kind of weird. Time felt like “it can heal or it can destroy,” as they mention in the notes for the album.

“Atata Naraka” has wild tenor saxophone (courtesy of Minyen Hsieh) that blasts like its being played in that flooded underpass while you cruise over the floodwaters in a sleek Miami Vice-era boat. The thick bass and fuzzy guitar chords of “Wunai” sound like the set-up to a seduction sequence in a vampire thriller.

“Ephemeral Mind” is a good name for a good track that describes how most of the world felt during and after the pandemic. Our minds, preoccupied with distractions before the pandemic, and calmness of mind, became ephemeral to our doom-scrolling. Emerging from our cocoons made some of us realize we need to put the phone down, while others rushed to fill the silence of the world and our heads with even more distractions. The 1980s goth guitar chords on it are damn cool.

“Thundering Dream” is heavy with low bass and synth stabs that sound like they’re played by robots underwater. dotzio‘s guest vocals on “Moonquake” create a gorgeous trip-hop / chillwave track that you’ll probably put on romantic playlists all year. “Above the Clouds” has heavy metal guitar chords combined with soft vocal sounds and tripped-out synths to make something unpredictable…as is the short “KL20,” which is like Blade Runner background music.

“Ocean City, Mirage Tower” would also fit into a science fiction film as the lead character slurps noodles in a tiny place off a neon-lit alley waiting for robot bounty hunters to show up and ruin everything. It floats along like lotus petal along the rain-filled underpass, drifting from synthwave to dark funk to cinematic piano paranoia.

Time is weird. Scattered Purgatory figured this out years ago and made an album that has a title symbolizing multiple things: Emerging from the weird time of the pandemic (which felt like purgatory for many), becoming new versions of themselves (Post “Scattered” Purgatory), no longer dwelling on the past, mistakes, and regrets (essentially what purgatory is).

Time constantly happens, and yet it doesn’t. No is one really sure what the hell it is. It heals all wounds and also withers away everything. Now is the only part of it that exists. I’m writing this in my present and in your past. You’re reading it in my future and your present. All of those things are now, like this record.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Kate at Stereo Sanctity.]

Katzin releases “Cowboy” ahead of his new album due on Friday the 13th.

This Friday, Katzin will release his debut LP Buckaroo on Mexican Summer. The project of the New York based songwriter Zion Battle, who is just 20 years old, Katzin broke ground on his first album the summer after he graduated from high school.

Raised on skillful storytellers like Bruce Springsteen and Tracy Chapman, Battle started weaving narratives from his first year of adulthood into a collection of new music. Channelling the expansive gravitas of Springsteen’s Nebraska, while drawing from the warm, homespun atmospherics of early Orchid Tapes releases, the record incorporates symbols of the mythologized American West – cowboys, horses, vast deserts, rolling plains, ancient rock formations – to trace Battle’s leap out of adolescence in all its unsteady shine.

Katzin has so far shared three singles from the record “Anna,” “Wild Horses,” and “Nantucket,” and today he’s sharing a final single from the record, a track called “Cowboy.”

When Battle began work on Buckaroo, with collaborator and producer Max Morgen, he had just spent most of the summer in Europe, and came back to the United States inspired to explore what it means to be an American at this particular moment in history. As with several other tracks on the record, “Cowboy” is a song that spills out into questions of identity and belonging in a nation that might still be too young to know what it wants to be.

The track was born in Max Morgen’s kitchen during an especially fruitful songwriting session. “We had about six or seven tunes for the album already, and we wanted a standout, shiny, loud song,” says Zion Battle, aka Katzin. “So we sat down and wrote ‘Cowboy’ together. It felt like we were really in lockstep. It just came out so seamlessly. The kick drum on that song is actually the sound of my boots banging on the wooden deck in his backyard.” A standout on Buckaroo, “Cowboy” thunders with the quiet/loud dynamics of peak indie rock like Pavement and Pixies, arcing into its crescendo with the confidence and velocity of a Mustang hurtling down the interstate.

To mark the release of the record Katzin has announced a hometown release show at Nightclub 101 that will take place on March 11th.

Keep your mind open.

[Ride on over to the subscription box, hombre.]

[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]

Dead Pioneers are ready to spill “Nazi Teeth” on their new single.

Dead Pioneers, the Indigenous fronted band from Denver, thump back into action this week with one of their most enraged, powerful and important pieces of work yet. As the upsurge of the far right and white supremacists continues to rise and come out of hiding, Dead Pioneers are ready to fight back with new single ‘Nazi Teeth’, the first track to be lifted from their forthcoming third album, further details to follow…

“While unfortunate that it needs to be done, we’ll never shy away from calling out the elephant in the room,” states frontman Gregg Deal. “Although we didn’t expect this elephant to be the revival of fascists on Amerikkkan soil. Maybe we should have. Frustrated and angry, ready and willing to fight, it’s not lost on us that the need to write a song like this or say these words out loud is grim, ironic, and disconcerting. Nevertheless, here we are, and we’re here to do it.”

The single features a fiery vocal collaboration from Stephanie Byrne of Colorado feminist punk band Cheap Perfume, reconnecting with their fantastic 2016 song ‘It’s Okay To Punch Nazis’. Stephanie’s voice breaks through the song, doubling down on confronting white supremacists throughout the world.

“We are witnessing in real time the violent and horrifying overextension of this administration, while many of our brothers and sisters have been suffering at the hands of white supremacy and colonialism for generations,” says Stephanie. “Nazi teeth is a call to action to hold the line with your friends, family, and community. Keeping Nazis down keeps us all free.”

“The United States of Amerikkka is in disarray, and ‘Nazi Teeth’ is not just our answer to what we’re seeing and experiencing in the streets of the so-called land of the free, but a call to action, fighting the continuing manifestation of forces our grandparents and great grandparents fought some 81-plus years ago,” continues Gregg. “It should be obvious, but for some people it seems this needs spelling out: Fuck Nazis, Fuck Fascism, Fuck ICE, Fuck Pedos, and Fuck Trump and his administration. If violence is the only language they speak, it’s okay to punch Nazi teeth.”

Dead Pioneers have never been afraid to use their art as a vehicle to express their beliefs and anger at the current political landscape in America. Over two albums – their self-titled debut in 2023 and PO$T AMERICAN from last year, the band have concocted a unique blend of spoken word and hypnotic post-punk, mixed with the fury and anger of real punk rock.

Order ‘Nazi Teeth’ here. Dead Pioneers are confirmed to play their first EU and UK headline tour, starting later this month. Order your tickets here.

Dead Pioneers emerged as a dynamic extension of vocalist Gregg Deal’s performance art, seamlessly blending music with critical cultural commentary. Rooted in the same themes of identity and resistance that define his visual work, the band’s sound acts as a powerful platform for addressing the complexities of Indigenous experience. Deal harnesses the raw energy of post-punk and alternative influences to challenge prevailing narratives, using lyrics that provoke thought and evoke emotion. Just as his performance art confronts the legacies of colonization and systemic marginalization, Dead Pioneers – completed by Josh Rivera and Abe Brennan on guitars, bassist Lee Tesche (Algiers) and drummer Shane Zweygardt – engages audiences in a visceral dialogue about survival, resilience, and reclamation of voice. This musical endeavor not only amplifies his artistic vision but also creates a space for collective expression and solidarity, inviting listeners to reflect on the intersections of culture, history, and identity in a contemporary context. Through Dead Pioneers, Deal continues to assert that art, in all its forms, can be a powerful vehicle for activism and change.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dan from Discipline PR.]

The Darts unleash an “Apocalypse” with their new single.

Seattle’s The Darts return with “Apocalypse,” the second advance single from their upcoming LP Halloween Love Songs, arriving March 3. Where “Midnight Creep” danced in B-movie shadows, “Apocalypse” blows the door off the darker half of the album, leaning into caveman rhythms, volcanic fuzz, and the kind of apocalyptic joy that makes destruction sound like deliverance. It marks the moment the record shifts from spooky fun into full-throttle, after-midnight fire.

The song was born in Angers, France, when singer/organ conjurer Nicole Laurenne wandered through the massive medieval Apocalypse Tapestry, a wall of woven chaos, angels, beasts, storms, the whole cosmic meltdown. “The lightning bolt struck me,” she says. “The song practically wrote itself in the van as we left the castle.” Instead of doom, Nicole leaned into the strange liberation of burning it all down: freedom from suffering, freedom from crowns, freedom from being told what comes next. She wrote the line “no future, no kings” as a mantra of release — and a year later, as if the song had cracked something open, “No Kings” erupted as a protest chant across the U.S. All while the track existed only as a demo on her laptop.

Musically, “Apocalypse” hits like a ritual. A pounding, Neanderthal beat through the verses, wide-open chant on the chorus, and those snaking organ lines that nod straight to The Seeds, The Standells, and other 60s greats who knew how to make the end of the world sound like a block-party with broken amps. Rebecca Davidson’s guitar tone drags the song into modern grit with thick, grimy Mudhoney fuzz, a little L7 bite, and flashes of Bikini Kill’s unbottled anger. It’s garage rock with a cracked halo, stomped through the dirt and set on fire.

Long before the album was finished, the band slipped “Apocalypse” into their live sets, and the audience reaction was immediate. People were yelling for it after shows, asking where they could buy it, treating it like a lost classic. When the studio version was finally tracked, Gretsch Guitars tapped the instrumental for a major ad, with Lindsay Scarey and Rebecca featured front and center. A quiet demo had somehow become one of the band’s most in-demand songs before it ever saw daylight.

Recorded at Station House Studio in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Mark Rains, “Apocalypse” is the bridge into Halloween Love Songs’ after-midnight terrain: heavier, darker, louder, and built to shake rooms. It’s the sound of a band deep into its evolution with Nicole, Becca, Lindsay, and returning drummer Rikki Watson, pushing garage rock to its breaking point and finding something feral and euphoric on the other side. No future, no kings — just volume.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Chad at No Rules PR.]

mclusky set to release a new six-song EP.

mclusky release i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley, a six-song mini album featuring four new tracks as well as two songs previously available digitally only, on march 20 (digital)/may 1 (vinyl) via Ipecac Recordings.

Available now for pre-order (https://mclusky.lnk.to/bowling), the collection is available physically on black vinyl, translucent red vinyl (exclusive to the ipecac and band websites), and a rough trade exclusive variant on crystal fuchsia.

The release follows the 2025 album, the world is still here and so are we, the UK outfit’s first new album in over 20 years. It debuted in the top 20 on the rock, alternative, and independent sales charts. NPR said it “is just bursting with creativity,” Pitchfork called it a “reminder of what mclusky are still capable of… melting faces,” and Brooklyn Vegan said the three-piece are “as sneering and sarcastic as ever.”

Falco: “Content. It drives the modern music world. Photos. Opinions. More photos. More opinions (please note – not all photo and are options are bad, just 99 percent of them). How about – and indulge me here – music? That content-y enough for you? Fact is we can’t stop writing, at least at the moment. It’s fun (that’s all it needs to be). It’s the common denominator of band. Only death will slow us down (note – it won’t stop us).

The idea for this release starts as a bit of a stop-gap – a thing with which to help promote the north american tour – and ended up as something else entirely. ‘i know computer’ and ‘as a dad’ are new and are singles (they may make the next album, who can say, it’s already half-recorded and you will like it). Damien probably likes ‘I am computer’ a bit too much but that’s okay, the heart wants what the heart wants.

‘spock culture’ and ‘hi! we’re on strike’ were recorded during the the world is still here… why didn’t they make the album? I’m not sure. Lyrically they are important historical documents. Up there with the ‘pusheen the cat’ books and/or the u.s. constitution.

‘fan learning difficulties’ and ‘that was my brain on elves’ have only had a digital release before and are, to quote british children from forty years ago, ‘skill.’ Hopefully you can agree that iI, and by osmosis, all of us – have read a lot of books.”

mclusky North American tour dates:

March 24 Denver, CO Marquis Theater

March 26 Seattle, WA The Crocodile

March 27 Boise, ID Treefort Festival

March 28 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater

March 30 San Francisco, CA The Chapel

March 31 Los Angeles, CA The Regent Theater

April 2 Austin, TX Empire Control Room & Garage

April 3 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line

April 4 Chicago, IL Metro

April 6 Toronto, ON Mod Club

April 10 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts

April 11 Washington, DC Black Cat

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy PR.]

Review: Gran Moreno – El Sol

I described Gran Moreno’s new album, El Sol, to a nephew as “Latino garage-psych.” That’s about the closest I can get to how they sound. Mix their hometown Austin, Texas love of heavy psych grooves with some blues influences, border rock, and metal riffs, then bake it in the desert sun, and you get the idea.

“Las Montañas” starts off the “sun” (“El Sol”) side of the album with enough heavy riffs to start a landslide or give you the power to scale literal and figurative mountains. The last minute of this song is like a match thrown on a trail of gasoline. It doesn’t so much flow into “Aztlan” as it roars into it like a flash flood through a desert wash.

“Huracán” is almost an arena-rock track with big, Brian May-like guitar riffs mixed with soulful, mellow chords. It’s another song of many on the album that reflect the elements: “Las Montañas” (“The Mountains”) are earth, “Huracán” (“Hurricane”) could be air and / or water. After it comes “Temple of Fire” with its marching beats and tales of a long road ahead to something grand on the horizon.

“La Mentira” (“The Lie”) brings in more heavy, fuzzy, bluesy swagger and grows into a scorcher by the end. “Oaxaca / Please Don’t Cry” has a great inclusion of saxophone and trumpet on it to elevate the song, somehow, even higher. The album (and the “La Luna” side) ends with “Hikuri” — a track that blends catchy guitar riffs with hammering power chords and drums that catch you off-guard every time.

It’s a strong record, and one I’d love to hear live. It must flatten you.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]