ninehertz

A round up of nine recent releases in bitesize review form...

At the turn of the month, I found myself in a prog bind, something I’ve never experienced before – a slew of new releases and promos arriving at the same time, from trusted sources and labels. I was suddenly face with a chance scenario of listening to one prog album after another. Most of it went over my head, but there were some that made the slightest indentation into my natural wariness of a genre fairly or not known to have a tendency towards the overblown.

If more of it is like Giöbia then I’ll be a convert before you know it. Their X-Æon album, out on the ever reliable Heavy Psych Sounds turns cosmic psych into a galaxy wide war between dramatic 80s synths and 70s space rock. It’s bold, adventurous and fun – prog rock with psychedelic swirls and space travel samples thrown in.

Going even deeper down the well takes us to Moundrag via their Spinda Records and Stolen Body Records co-released Deux. Led by vintage organ, this is all in prog, and as the psychedelic tinged The Caveman rips loose is is hard not to be invigorated by this funk dance Deep Purple trip. There’s pomp galore, wonderful vocals and synth flamboyance adding to the extravagant nature, and while this took me further from my comfort zone the longer it went – the psych giving way to purer prog – it was still an eye opener.

If the prog took us back 50 years, then we need a DeLorean or two more to travel into medieval times…

Or so it feels at times with Greet, a vocal and harmonium solo act, with countryside fables woven into a rich fabric. I had the pleasure of capturing their live set recently and it was magical, a transporting experience through pastoral drones and esoteric folk. I Know How to Die is their debut full length, out on two of the best labels anywhere in the world, Dry Cough and Fiadh Productions, which should tell you something. It is a warm and unique album, even in the moments where the harmonium conjures black sirens of noise through its drones, offset by the gentleness of the vocals There is birdsong, marching music, songs that sound like a dance from a medieval inn. It is a perfect encapsulation of how great Greet are.

I happened across M.E.L.T. recently, not long after reviewing The Gray Goo, and it gave off similar, happy vibes. From Pittsburgh, their Innervate / Obliterate record has so many different shades of psych, stoner, prog and doom it’s a bewildering listen at times. Add in layers of fuzz, an obvious proto-metal obsession (I hear Dio at one point, another it’s in Witchcraft worlds) which revs certain tracks along unexpectedly and some party-raising garage rock and it makes for a whole heap of fun. That my favourite track is the Sabbath doom of Tranquilized speaks only to my one-track doom mind but also highlights how many different arrows they have in their quiver.

Trevor’s Head are of similar agitable restlessness when it comes to moving wildly from a stoner/doom template. They celebrate 15 years of never playing it straight and do so with an Abbey Road recorded double A-side release Fall Towards the Sun and Majesty and Harmony (APF Records). Funnily enough, this is the least eccentric I can remember from them, stoner rock in the primary with nods to grunge, a cool rise and fall in the vocals in the first track, a biting groove and nice fuzz fuelled drive in the second. Happy birthday Trevor.

And now to get darker and faster, with the pick of a slew of hardcore releases I briefly engorged on of late.

First up is Mastiff, firmly embedded within the UK underground as a reliable source of sludge-tinted hardcore filth, now teamed up with the Church Road roster to spread that darkness to all corners. For All the Dead Dreams is their new EP, five tracks that whizz by, bludgeoning you over the head as they pass. This is the muscular hardcore of the Nails and Harm’s Way college, pummelling outwardly with flailing arms. There’s some variance to provide a breather through the vaguely Dillinger Escape Plan-ish dynamics on A Story Behind Every Light and a reminder of their doom edges within Decimated Graves, which has nods to Primitive Man, but it ends as it started, with steamrolling, chugging riff battery.

I really wanted to write a full review of the split between Portland’s Dry Socket and Tijuana’s Violencia but my worlds failed me – probably due to it being the opposite end of the speedometer to my day to day sludge – leaving me with a few flattering words of how good this all is. Their Split, out on both To Live a Lie Records and Get Better Records is electrifying. Dry Socket remind me of Cloud Rat, a band I adore, with anger seeping through the microphone – they sound utterly vital. Violencia are equally searingly hot, blistering hardcore rage. It is a brilliant pairing.

Zhaat are from Leipzig, seemingly home to a wildly productive underground of anarchist hardcore, black metal and doom. They have just released Other Prophets, a record of blackened hardcore tempered by post-hardcore sensibilities. You could place this in the Coilguns and Birds in Row school, matching their energy and creating an ever present electricity. As the EP goes on there’s a sensation of Eastern psychedelic influence creeping in, songs growing with a post-rock nuance, and providing a healthy dose of individuality to make Zhaat stand out.

And finally, we have the return of Sephtis – who’s last album made it on to our Albums of the Year of 2024. What was great news – their swift return – quickly soured somewhat as it appears that Look Within While I Ascend is their swansong. You couldn’t wish for a better epitaph for them, a record of blackened hardcore of the Throatruiner style, some Trap Them levels of bloodied noses and even a descent further into darkness not unlike a band such as Unyielding Love. Add in a pure noise track interlude, all round blistering hardcore and even a drawn out ghostly restrained final song, and I feel like I’m missing them already. What a way to bow out though.