Pagan Science, the second album by Austin, Texas’ doom rock trio The Well (Lisa Alley – bass and vocals, Ian Graham – guitar and lead vocals, Jason Sullivan – drums), has an interesting cover. The image at first appears to be a veiled angel (complete with halo), but closer inspection shows the halo is dim and crude, the silk veil is either a clear plastic tarp or a shower curtain, and the angel is either a store mannequin or a sweaty woman who is either exhausted or euphoric, or both – which is probably how you’ll feel by the time you’ve finished listening to it.
“Black Eyed Gods” (Maybe the ones who drew that crude halo?) opens with fiery riffs from Graham and Alley and Sullivan being in lockstep from the first beat drop. Graham sings about crimson skies and literal and metaphysical fires burning everywhere. A brief interlude called “Forecast” (“I think the golden age is ahead…Pagan science.”) proceeds “Skybound” – a song that chugs along like some sort of blood-fueled war tank.
The band’s love of Cream (and, to be sure, Black Sabbath) is on display in “A Pilgrimage” with its tuning and rhythm and Graham singing about his deep hate: “Can you feel the hate inside me? Hate that drags me on? Only happy with my sword beside me, keeping me strong.” To be blunt, how fucking metal is that? The back and forth vocals between he and Alley on the track are outstanding, as is the addition of Alley’s moans / cries to those black eyed gods mentioned earlier.
“The children of the forest didn’t know if they should dance or run,” Graham and Alley sing on “Drug from the Banks” – a song about something found in a creepy forest. I love how The Well doesn’t rush this song, they let it bubble like a witches’ brew until they’re ready to serve it hot and pungent.
“No mercy for the sinners, we’ve drawn a line in blood,” Graham and Alley sing at the opening of “Byzantine” while Sullivan hammers out a beat that sounds like chanting orcs. One could argue that this drawn line was done in challenge to other doom metal bands who might try to ape The Well‘s power. “One Nation” is a tale of war and what, if anything, is left behind after it.
The instrumental “Choir of the Stars” follows and drifts like a smoky haze into the fuzzy, heady “Brambles.” “Serpents on the land crossing paranoid sands,” Graham sings, perhaps reflecting a state of constant worry so many of us find ourselves in each day when we are faced with things beyond our control (or even comprehension). The groove of “I Don’t Believe” rocks with not a little bit of swagger, and Graham and Alley’s vocals have that same swagger…and a touch of menace as they face harsh reality (“I don’t believe in anything anymore.”) and “Sacrifice illusions to the sun.”
“I Don’t Believe” closes the album, but picking up the digital version of Pagan Science will score you the bonus track “Guinevere” – which is well worth it. It sounds like a dark(er) Alice in Chains cut and Alley’s vocals are prominent throughout it.
The sorcery / science of this album is powerful stuff, indeed. You should experience it head-on, lest it creep up on you from the shadows.
Keep your mind open.
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Back in 2009, psych / kraut-rock trio Earthless (Mike Eginton – bass, Isaiah Mitchell – guitar, and Mario Rubalcaba – drums) played a music festival in Guadalest, Spain. Thankfully for all of us, Live in Guadalest was recorded and released in 2013 as a special item at the band’s merch table during an Australian tour and also made available as a digital download for those of us who missed out on the few physical copies produced.
The set is “only” two songs, but the shortest one is twenty-two minutes and fourteen seconds long. That’s the second track, “Godspeed.” The first, “From the Ages,” is over half an hour and tears out of the gate like an Arabian race horse with black coffee in its veins. It turns into a meditative jam around the eleven-minute mark. The song is cruising along a dark highway by minute-fifteen, and your mind is blown eight minutes later when they break the song down yet again.
“Godspeed” melts whatever traces of your brain are left from the previous track. It starts mellow enough, but soon Rubalcaba is hammering away at his kit with renewed vigor and Eginton and Mitchell put the pedal to the metal. Eginton’s bass is particularly funky on this version of “Godspeed,” and Mitchell seems to be playing two guitars at once. The breakdown at the seventeen-minute mark is outstanding and the fade out leaves you breathless.
This is a good place to start if you’ve never seen Earthless live. It will make you want to catch them as soon as possible, as you should. You won’t regret it.
The forthcoming tenth edition — #10! — of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Tenth Trip will be available, fittingly, on April 20th, 2020. As the celebrated series reaches landmark double-digits, there are no indications it will slow down in the near future. Hear and share the first single, “Tensions” released in 1969 by Detroit rockers Sounds Synonymous via YouTube and Bandcamp. The Brown Acid series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records. Read interviews with the series curators via Paste MagazineHERE and LA Weekly HERE.
About The Tenth Trip: Here we are, arriving at the tenth edition of Brown Acid in just half as many years! As always, we packed in the highest highs of the dankest hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks previously lost to the sands of time. Like we’ve done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. It’s hard to believe we’re already up to 10 volumes of this lysergic Neanderthal wail, but the long-lost jams just keep-a-coming like Texas crude to fuel your rock ‘n’ roll engine and melt your metal mind. This Trip kicks off with the Hammer of the Gods howl of “Plastic Thunder” by Bitter Creek. The Atlanta, GA quintet’s lone single from 1970 on Mark IV Records is rated #6 of the Top 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath by GuitarWorld Magazine. You can hear why in the ominous riff and larynx-ravaging chorus that merges the deepest of Deep Purple sludge with The Who’s rollicking psychedelia.
Not much is known about The Brood‘s 1969 bluesy paean to dirtbag weed consumption “The Roach” on the It’s A Lemon imprint, except that it’s a big, growling rocker with a crazed in-the-round blowout of wailing guitar solos, screeching organ blasts, wildly overlapping vocals and drum rolls for days.
Nova Scotia, Canada sextet Brothers and One‘s double-entendre laden single “Hard On Me” certainly pushes the boundaries of what would be acceptable at the time (especially amongst their ever-polite Canadian brethren.) Their lone full length was released in 1970 on short-lived Audat label, the group featuring two sets of brothers (hence the name) recorded the album while all members were between age 13-18-years-old. This glam-influenced single was privately released on the band’s own label nearly 4 years later.
Louisville, KY quartet Conception‘s excellent revision of Blue Cheer’s “Babylon” (1969, Perfection Records) adds heavy phaser effect on the guitar and a more driving rhythm to make the song entirely their own. Lead guitar and high harmony vocals by Charlie Day (not to be confused with the Sunny Philadelphian actor) are assertive and commanding as he implores listeners onward to hallucinagenic nirvana.
Not exactly a typically psychedelic band name for the era, but First State Bank‘s “Mr. Sun” (1970, Music Mill) pays hearty dividends of boogie bustle. The Central Texas band led by guitarist/vocalist Randy Nunnally released only 3 singles in its career from 1970-1976. For those keeping score at home, their song “Before You Leave” was featured on The Third Trip back in 2016. “Mr. Sun” is the heavy B-Side to “Coming Home To You.”
Clearly inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Tucson quartet Frozen Sun topped the local charts in 1969 with this barnstorming rocker “Electric Soul” (Capt. Zoomer Records.) The song is replete with guitarist/vocalist (with big Hendrix hair) Ron Ryan’s spoken interlude, “Well have you been electrically stoned? You know, living in the danger zone?” We say yes.
Ralph Williams and the Wright Brothers took flight with “Never Again” on Hour Glass Records in 1972, and apparently never landed after this 45 with “Dark Street” on the A-side. The serpentine riff and sexually-charged backing vocal grunts drive this archetypical tale of a young man’s chemical odyssey… or, should we say, trip?
Sounds Synonymous pretty much epitomized heavy fuzz from Michigan with their 1969 single “Tensions” on the Wall Productions label. The Hendrix “Fire” meets Arthur Brown’s “Fire” track lunges and lurches with glee throughout its 3-minutes and change of unbridled crunch.
Tabernash‘s “Head Collect” (1972) is the suburban Denver quartet’s only release following the name change from The Contents Are and a move from Davenport, IA. This more stately psych-rock chune features Byrds-like harmonies, twangy reverse-looped guitar soloing and Keith Moon-esque drumming that should’ve made it a chart-topper, but we all know there’s no justice in rock’n’roll.
The Tenth Trip closes, appropriately, with the “War Pigs” reminiscent fuzz of New Orleans quartet The Rubber Memory‘s 1970 tune “All Together.” The band self-released only 110 copies of their lone album, making it an incredibly sought-after rarity for decades. Alongside a limited edition reissue in 2000, the group reformed for a one-off show before quickly bouncing back into our collective cosmic consciousness.
About the Brown Acid series: Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution is the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century — particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins — often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid.
Lance Barresi, co-owner of L.A./Chicago retailer Permanent Records has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long.
“I essentially go through hell and high water just to find these records,” Barresi says. “Once I find a record worthy of tracking, I begin the (sometimes) extremely arduous process of contacting the band members and encouraging them to take part. Daniel and I agree that licensing all the tracks we’re using forBrown Acid is best for everyone involved,” rather than simply bootlegging the tracks. When all of the bands and labels haven’t existed for 30-40 years or more, tracking down the creators gives all of these tunes a real second chance at success. “There’s a long list of songs that we’d love to include,” Barresi says. “But we just can’t track the bands down. I like the idea that Brown Acid is getting so much attention, so people might reach out to us.”
Brown Acid: The Tenth Trip will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on April 20, 2020 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available for digital (with immediate download of the first single) at Bandcamp, physical pre-orders at RidingEasy Records.
Keep your mind open.
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Randy Holden, former guitarist and vocalist of metal pioneers Blue Cheer, debuted his first solo album, Population II (because it was just Holden and his drummer / keyboardist Chris Lockheed – and it’s also a term for a star cluster with heavy metals in it), in 1969 to stunned audiences. He recorded the proto-doom metal record with sixteen 200-watt Sunn amps in an opera house and troubles with releasing it bankrupted Holden. The album was bootlegged and copied many times, but RidingEasy Records has unleashed it in a new, high quality remaster that sounds like, as Holden once put it, “Godzilla walked into the room.”
The album opens with the cosmic sludge of “Guitar Song.” Holden moves back and forth between heavy stoner psych and gold old-fashioned metal shredding. Lockheed keeps the drums minimal, letting Holden’s guitar take center stage. Don’t ask me to figure out the meaning of “Fruit Icebergs,” just enjoy the epic riffs and iceberg-heavy drums as they come at you like an unstoppable force. The song (with lyrics about enjoying colors and heaven, among other things) is so massive that there’s a groovy break in it entitled “Between Time” in which Holden sings about loving his guitar before “Fruit Icebergs (Conclusion)” comes back for nearly another two minutes.
“Blue My Mind” could refer to Holden’s time in Blue Cheer or a woman who once gave him a wild ride. Either way, Lockheed thumps out the heartbeats of a titan while Holden’s guitar seems to be the marching music of an orc army. The album ends with the stunning ten-minute long “Keeper of the Flame.” Holden compares women to beautiful blue skies and rainbows, but don’t let the lyrics make you think the track is some sort of acoustic hippie love jam. It’s a chugging blues-influenced rocker that sounds like an out of control big rig truck at some points.
This could easily be one of the top reissues of 2020, and it’s a treasure if you’re a fan of cosmic / stoner / doom rock. Many thanks to RidingEasy Records for giving it a proper release.
“Population II is considered one of the world’s first doom albums of all time.” — Metal Injection
RidingEasy Records proudly announce the official reissue on physical and digital formats of the extremely rare 1970 proto-metal album Randy Holden – Population II. Considered one of the first doom metal albums ever, the ex-Blue Cheer guitarist’s solo debut has long been sought out by collectors. The remastered full length will be available on all streaming platforms for the first time, with a master more true to the original mix on LP, CD and streaming.
Metal Injection has the first taste of the remastered album, “Blue My Mind” to hear & share HERE. (Direct Bandcamp, YouTube.) “Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open.”
To hear Randy Holden describe the audience’s reaction in 1969 to his solo debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps is about as close as many of us will get to truly experience the moment heavy metal music morphed into existence. However, at last we have unearthed the proper fossil record. Population II, the now legendary, extremely rare album by guitarist/vocalist Holden and drummer/keyboardist Chris Lockheed is considered to be one of the earliest examples of doom metal. Though its original release was a very limited in number and distribution, like all great records, its impact over time has continued to grow.
In 1969, Holden, fresh off his tenure with proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer (appearing on one side of the New! Improved! Blue Cheer album and touring for the better part of a year in the group), aimed for more control over his band. Thus, Randy Holden – Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present.
“I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before,” Holden explains. “I was interested in discordant sounds that could be melodic but gigantically huge. I rented an Opera house for rehearsal, set up with 16 Sunn amps. That’s what I was going for, way over the top.” And over the top it is. The 6-song album delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It’s incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility.
“At the time, I was hearing these crazy melodies everywhere I went,” Holden says. “I thought I was going crazy.” For example, one day he slowly rooted out a powerful sound that had been nagging him and discovered it coming from a ceiling fan. “Machinery all around us doesn’t turn in a perfect rhythm. That’s what I was tuning into, I heard the music and the discordant sounds coming from the machinery. It was perfect for rendering the machine we built.”
Troubles with the album’s release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. It was bootlegged several times over the years, but until now hasn’t seen a proper remaster and has yet to be available on digital platforms. “The original mastering just destroyed the dynamics of it,” Holden says. “They flattened it out. Now we got a really nice remaster that should be the closest thing to the original recording.”
Population II will be available on LP, CD and download on February 28th, 2020 via RidingEasy Records.
Keep your mind open.
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Hailing from Lyon, France, doom metal trio Praÿ (Antonie Berthet-Bondet – drums, Maud Gibbons – guitar, and Jason Rols – bass) let you know right away on their self-titled album that they are not screwing around with you.
Rols’ opening bass on the first track, “First Trip,” sets the creepy tone / begins the ritual and soon Gibbons’ guitar is calling to ancient things beyond the stars and Berthet-Bondet’s drums are heralding their arrival. The song floats into psychedelia close to the nine-minute mark and brings back to Earth, although we return wondering if there are things lurking in the shadows (Spoiler: There are.)
“Heretic Eye” also gets off to a dark, quiet start before unleashing fuzzed fury that might knock you out of your chair. “Sulphur” ups the speed a bit and reveals some of the band’s prog-rock influences (mainly through some of the time signatures and Gibbons’ chords early in the track) before the raw power of all three members hits you in the chest like a sledgehammer…and then quiets down to a low rumble before smashing up the place again. The song goes through at least three changes, and each one is somehow better than the last. The final track, “Bottom of the Universe,” sounds like its emerging from a black hole somewhere beyond Alpha Centauri, so the name is appropriate. It hits you with big cymbal crashes and bass thuds and guitar chords that sound like the devil revving the engine of his hot rod. Then, the bottom drops out and we’re floating in a psychedelic Steve Ditko-drawn universe that leads us to a Jack Kirby-drawn post-apocalyptic planet.
The album is only four instrumental songs, but the shortest one is eleven minutes and twelve seconds in length. They don’t cheat the listener or themselves. They explore the shadows as long as they like. Do you dare join them on the journey?
Keep your mind open.
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Here we are at the top of the list of the best things I heard and reviewed in 2019.
#5 – The Well – Death and Consolation
Good grief, this album crushes. It’s my favorite stoner / doom metal album of the year. It doesn’t just wallop you with it’s heaviness though, the grooves on it are top-notch and the Well keep a raw edge to it that’s difficult for lesser bands to match.
#4 – Mdou Moctar – Ilana (The Creator)
A beautiful record of Tuareg rock from a guy who, in his spare time when he’s not shredding a handmade guitar, builds schools in Algeria. The album is a spiritual journey and a showcase for Moctar’s amazing guitar work.
#3 – Here Lies Man – No Ground to Walk Upon
These guys make the funkiest psych-doom you’ve heard. Playing psych-doom through African rhythms and jazz flourishes, HLM’s newest explore impermanence, transcendence, and the power of nature.
#2 – Priests – The Seduction of Kansas
If you’re going out, go out on a high note. Priests, who have announced an amicable breakup for the time being, did just that with the excellent album The Seduction of Kansas – a post-punk gem that tackles modern politics, toxic masculinity, bullying, sex, and, of course, rock and roll. This was my #1 album for most of the year until along came an album that should’ve have been good at all…
#1 – Föllakzoid – I
I just realized that my #1 album of the year is called I. This record should not have worked. Föllakzoid’s three members each recorded their own parts (guitars and vocals, synths, drums) separately and then gave all the elements to their producer – who had heard none of them before – and more or less told him, “Make a record out of this.” He did, and the result is an amazing synthwave record that’s like the score to an unreleased Phillip K. Dick film adaptation. I described this process to my wife, who then asked, “So whose album is it?” Is it Föllakzoid’s? The producers? Both? Neither? The band has said they consider it a communal experience for everyone involved and the listener. In these times of fractionated politics and drawing lines in the sand, we need more albums like that.
We’re into the top 20 albums from the year that I heard and reviewed. Let’s do this.
#20 – Blackwater Holylight – Veils of Winter
Blending goth, psychedelia, and doom, Blackwater Holylight crafted one of the coolest and creepiest records of the year. Witches coven vocal harmonies and cosmic horror synths roll along like fog across a moor and draw you into what at first sounds like the end of your mortal coil but turns out to be a pretty neat party.
#19 – Khruangbin – Hasta El Cielo
Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundowas already amazing, but then they released this dub version of it, and it’s just as good. It’s richly layered and probably the best chill-out record of 2019.
#18 – Comacozer – Mydriasis
Be sure to check out these guys if you’re a fan of dwarf star matter-heavy stoner metal. Comacozer’s Mydriasis consists of only four tracks, but they add up to enough time for a full album. They take delight in exploring long jams, cosmic highways, and hanging out with ancient gods.
#17 – King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats’ Nest
Speaking of heavy, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard decided to release two albums this year. The first was Fishing for Fishies (#26 on this list), and the second was this thrash metal album. Like “Fishies,” it’s also heavy on environmental themes and even heavier on shredding. They pretty much did it as a lark and it ended up being one of the best metal albums of the year.
#16 – Chromatics – Closer to Gray
Everyone was expecting the long-awaited (and long since destroyed) Dear Tommy, but we got Closer to Grayinstead. It’s pretty much a giallo film soundtrack with plenty of sexy synthwave, Ruth Radelet’s haunting vocals, and a stunning cover of “The Sounds of Silence.”
The top 15 are coming up later today. Stick around!
I knew this was going to be a great year for Bleached within the first couple bars of this track. It has a wicked disco flavor to it but they don’t lose their punk edge. Bleached has taken their song craft to another level with this one.
#9 – Sleater-Kinney – “Can I Go On”
“Everyone I know is tired, and everyone I know is wired. It’s obscene. I just scream ’til it don’t hurt no more.” I think these words from Sleater-Kinney might be the truest ones this year about the state of practically everyone in America.
#8 – L’Epee – “Une Lune Etrange”
I think my initial reaction to hearing this song from this psychedelic supergroup was “Holy crap…” I couldn’t say anything else. It’s was a gauntlet thrown down to everyone making psychedelic rock, or any other kind of music for that matter.
#7 – The Well – “This Is How the World Ends”
This song hits you like a sledge hammer and is from my favorite doom metal album of 2019. As heavy as this is, wait until you hear it live. I turned to my wife after hearing it at Levitation Austin this year and said, “And that’s why their album is in my top ten of the year.”
#6 – Thee Oh Sees – “Henchlock”
Some might call it unfair that I’m listing a song that last 21:03 as a “single,” but Thee Oh Sees released this video for it, so that makes it a single in my eyes (even if it is one entire side of a double album). It’s a wild psychedelic jazz jam that gets stuck in your head and is one of the best thing John Dwyer and his crew have ever done.
Here we go. Who were my top five live acts of 2019?
#5 – The Well – Levitation Austin – November 09th
The Well are at the top of their game right now, and this heavy-hitting set of blues-laced doom metal was one of the highlights of Levitation Austin for me. I knew within three songs that it was going to be one of the best sets I saw all weekend if not all year, and I was right.
#4 – A Place to Bury Strangers – Levitation Austin – November 10th
I was talking with a woman after the Levitation Austin set by A Place to Bury Strangers. We’d just been flattened by it. Walls of sound, blazing strobe lights, haunted house fog, and guest spots by members of Ringo Deathstarr, Numb.er, the KVB, Cryogeyeser, and Hoover iii were added treats to the raw force that APTBS unleashed. The woman said, “You wonder, ‘Were they really as good as I remember the last time I saw them?’ and as soon as they start you’re like, ‘Oh yeah. They are.'”
#3 – Thee Oh Sees – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL – October 11th
As I like to say, everything you’ve heard about a show by Thee Oh Sees is a hundred percent true. Crazy double drumming, wild guitar work, wall-shaking bass, psychedelic synths, and a crazy crowd mixed to produce a stunning night of music, highlighted by all twenty-one-plus minutes of “Henchlock” from their great new album, Face Stabber.
#2 – Jeff Lynne’s ELO – United Center – Chicago, IL – July 27th
In terms of sheer spectacle and sound quality, this show by Jeff Lynne’s ELO was going to be tough to beat. The light show was, go figure, amazing and was only outmatched by the sound quality. Mr. Lynne still sounds great and his backing band was top-notch. He played all of his hits and even a Traveling Wilburys song with Dhani Harrison singing and playing his father’s parts. This show by a legend could only be outmatched by another legend.
#1 – Paul McCartney – Memorial Coliseum – Ft. Wayne, IN – June 03rd
Seriously, how was anyone going to beat this show? It was practically in my back yard and was a fun show by a legend who has inspired more musicians than we’ll ever know. He played a great mix of Beatles, Wings, and solo tracks, told a lot of fun stories, and delivered a fun show that left you wanting another full set. The expensive tickets were worth every dollar.
There you have it. Another great year for live music. Get out there and see some.
