New Release Radar: Down Is the Gauntlet Thrown
A few short reviews featuring The Hope Conspiracy, Thou, Oscurom, NAG, Bottenhavet, Guenna, REZN, and Fu Manchu
Life has thrown me curveballs, screwballs, sinkers, and eephuses lately. I’m still in the batter’s box fouling off everything that comes at me. But this ain’t about me. It’s about new music; and speaking of things being thrown, the gauntlet has been thrown down of late by bands vying for the top spot in the many AOTY lists that continue to take shape. So, let’s gooooooooo…
The Hope Conspiracy – Tools of Oppression/Rule by Deception
Release Date: 31 May 2024
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Label: Deathwish Inc.
I know I just got through saying that this is not about me. But please bear with me as I speak in the first person a bit more here. I rarely appreciate political grandstanding in music. I think of myself as anti-political, and opt for a radically aloof approach to politics in my effort to “live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18). But, sometimes, a message hits the mark and I can’t help but throw my fist in the air in solidarity. That’s true with much of the lyrical message of the new LP from The Hope Conspiracy. The album is an anti-State, anti-fascist, anti-imperialist condemnation of war and its profiteers. Apocalyptic language cuts deep, poetically painting the dark picture of reality in this present evil age, calling out the ways in which the masses are being controlled, coercively divided into feuding factions, and set out on a path to self-destruction. The lyrics to “Broken Vessels” really encapsulate what’s being communicated:
All this hatred poisons my soul
Rotting my heart swallow me whole
Parasite crawls down my throat
Bile turns black carries me homeStill this hatred turns inside out
The visions I see are not you and I
Broken vessels is all we are
Killing ourselves for what it's worth
Musically, it’s pummeling and unrelenting hardcore with a punk attitude and a metal edge. This is the band’s first full-length studio album since 2006 and it very much lives up to the legend that they and their loyal fanbase have built up.
Thou – Umbilical
Release Date: 31 May 2024
Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Label: Sacred Bones Records
With visceral vocals comparable to Rwake, riff wizardry akin to DOWN, the otherwise peerless weight of Crowbar, and the seething bleakness of Black Breath, Louisiana’s sludgy drone-doom masters, Thou, have prolifically cemented themselves in the upper echelon of active bands in their creative milieu. Not only do they continue to churn out new music regularly, they seem to be getting better—refining their sound with dense layers, unfathomable depths, and colossal heaviness—the combination of which is, honestly, unrivaled. Objectively, this may be their best album yet, and it will, deservedly and without a doubt, be very high on many AOTY lists this year.
Oscurom – Echoes
Release Date: 19 April 2024
Location: Winterthur, Switzerland
Label: independent
The first LP from Oscurom, the one-man project of Esgaroth, brings together the best elements of atmospheric black metal, post-metal, and blackgaze. The vocals epitomize the black metal style. The song lengths are epic, with the twists and turns one would expect from a riveting, multifaceted story. The mood is balanced, contrasting darkness with glimmers of light, heaviness with pillowy interludes, and the telluric with the celestial. There is a tangible density to it that’s hard to put into words. This is next-level ABM, organically good in every conceivable way, and extraordinarily well-produced for an independent release.
NAG – Boys of Europe
Release Date: 12 April 2024
Location: Stavanger, Norway
Label: Fysisk Format
I’ve called it out before here in speaking of Oberst, and I hear something of that distinctly Norwegian je ne sais quoi here again with NAG. I think it has something to do with bringing together black metal, crust, hardcore, and thrash with party rock gang vocals and melodic guitar, all flowing from a cold, dark Viking ancestral spring. This is my first time hearing the band, but Boys of Europe is their third full-length album. Now I need to make time to listen to their earlier stuff.
Bottenhavet – Ljud i Tysta Rum
Release Date: 12 April 2024
Location: Sweden
Label: Fuzzorama Records
Toss Kyuss, Trouble, and Skraeckoedlan into a blender. Add a pinch of grunge and a dash of psychedelic seasoning. Pulse. Serve and enjoy. That’s what I’m picking up from this generously fuzzed out, yet ofttimes mellow, Swedish trio’s debut LP. Riffs and hooks galore, this album is a feast for lovers of stoner rock. Very impressive!
Guenna – Peak of Jin’Arrah
Release Date: 19 April 2024
Location: Skåne County, Sweden
Label: The Sign Records
Let’s keep it in Sweden for a moment then, shall we? Just as there seems to be a distinctly Norwegian style in the metal space, there seems to be something similar in the water in Sweden when it comes to stoner rock. Guenna swims in those waters that have begotten the aforementioned Skraeckoedlan, Dozer, Greenleaf, Spacedrifter (whose new album was reviewed here recently), and, obviously, Truckfighters. Somehow, the country has become a bastion of desert/space rock, and while Guenna exemplifies that fact well, there’s more to the band than that. The band has more of a progressive rock vibe in comparison to their peers. The great Nick Oliveri is quoted to have said, “Guenna sound like if Yes played heavy stoner music, with all the harmonies and stuff. And I mean the good part of Yes!” If that intrigues you, and it should, you owe it to yourself to give this album some of your time.
REZN – Burden
Release Date: 14 June 2024
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Label: Sargent House
Did you think REZN couldn’t get any lower and slower? Did you think the brown note could not be further perfected in its olfactory destructiveness? If you answered “no” to these deeply metaphysical questions, you need to check your gut microbiome. Seriously, though, do that because something’s probably off. Drink a kombucha, man. Look; I have raved both here, there, and everywhere about how much I love REZN. Since 2020, when they converged upon my radar like an asteroid the size of Jupiter, they’ve been ascending my list of all-time favorite bands at a pace exponentially more rapid than the tempo with which they play. The music, the artwork, the effects, the compositions, the atmosphere, the haze, the doooooooom. It’s the whole package, and this is a band that is poised to gain much greater exposure. Let’s hope they get it, because it’s past due. To say it’s deserved would be the understatement of the decade. As we near the halfway point of 2024, I cannot imagine anyone supplanting this for AOTY. To my mind, REZN have become the new standard bearers for doom metal.
Fu Manchu – The Return of Tomorrow
Release Date: 14 June 2024
Location: San Clemente, California, USA
Label: At the Dojo Records
Hey! HEY! It’s a new studio album from stoner rock legends, Fu Manchu, their first since 2018. HEYYY! Guess what? It sounds just like Fu Manchu. That’s it. That’s the review; ’nuff said. Go forth, therefore, and listen… on repeat. It’s very good.