Author Archives: valleyofsteel

Holy Rivals – Self-titled (2016)

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Holy Rivals – Holy Rivals (self-released, 25 May 2016)

 

Hey folks, remember all the way back to yesterday, when we talked about a pair of Howling Giant releases from 2016 and 2017? If not, make sure to go check it out! Anyway, way down at the end of that post you might notice that the Tennesseans are heading out on a tour of the eastern United States tomorrow night (Thursday, the 10th of May) and swinging through Pittsburgh soon after (Saturday, the 12th).

Well as it turns out, one of the local bands performing at that show also happens to be someone whose music we’ve been meaning to share with you for a while — in fact, their self-titled debut EP came out two years ago this month. So before any more time passes, today let’s listen to the self-described “three sludge/grunge dudes from Pittsburgh” known as Holy Rivals!

 

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Howling Giant – Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (2016), Part 2 (2017)

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Howling Giant – Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 (self-released, 12 August 2016)

 

Howling Giant – Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 2 (self-released, 25 August 2017)

 

Starting this Thursday (the tenth of May) and then lasting for the next two-plus weeks, Nashvillian trio Howling Giant will be traipsing all over the eastern USA in what they’re calling their “Escape from the Lab” tour. We’ve got details down below, and on your way there we’ll be covering the first two portions of the band’s planned trilogy Black Hole Space Wizard. That way, once you get to the list of dates you’ll either be very excited if you find your city included or very disappointed if you find it omitted. Either way, though, you’ll be treated to some great music — which you’ll have the opportunity to download for as cheap as you’d like. Win-win!

 

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Bison – You Are Not the Ocean You Are the Patient (2017), Earthbound (2018 reissue)

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Bison – You Are Not the Ocean You Are the Patient (Pelagic Records, EU: 23 June 2017 / NA: 07 July 2017)

 

Bison – Earthbound (2007; reissued by No List Records, 20 April 2018)

 

A little over a week ago, while talking about Denmark’s LLNN, we happened to mention that they would be touring across Europe with Bison. Well, that’s still happening, and so it seemed like a fine time to discuss that particular Canadian quartet.

Known as Bison B.C. for several years after their original formation in 2006, both to emphasize their British Columbian heritage and to differentiate from another group named for the large North American ruminant, the band decided to drop the extraneous initials about five years ago, going by the more streamlined moniker ever since.

Last summer, the Ocean-run German label Pelagic released the latest Bison full-length — their fourth overall — while last month saw No List reissuing the group’s long-out-of-print debut EP (since used CDs are going for outrageous prices online), including being pressed on vinyl for the first time ever! Here we’ll give a listen to both of those, and then down at the bottom of the page you can check out the rest of the places these Vancouverites will be visiting in eastern/central Europe!

 

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Krakow – Alive (2017)

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Kraków – Alive (Dark Essence Records, 24 March 2017)

 

From the first time I heard them, Norwegian post-metallurgists Kraków quickly became one of my favorite bands out there, through their grasp of the beautiful and fragile meshed with the ugly and frightening, spread out over long meandering compositions that enthrall the listener with their aural stories.

As many times as I’ve listened to their releases (the three most recent of which were written about right here), the appearance of a live album was certainly exciting news. On top of that, we’ve recently learned that another new record will be appearing later this year! In this post you can find out more about that live album — and then at the end, what we know so far about their next one!

 

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Desertfest Berlin #7 (May 2018)

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by Charles Degeyter

 

Desertfest Berlin #7

4-6 May 2018 at Arena Berlin

 
The seventh annual Desertfest is happening THIS WEEKEND in Berlin! The complete line-up and schedule is out now, including the headliners for each day, Monster Magnet, Graveyard, and High on Fire! There are plenty of other names to get excited about as well, which we’ll list for you below. And as an added bonus, a preview of information about albums coming later this month from two of these bands…

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Ommadon – V (2014), Empathy for the Wicked (2015), self-titled (2016), End Times (2018)

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Ommadon – V (Domestic Genocide Records, 05 August 2014)

 

Ommadon – Empathy for the Wicked (Golden Mantra, 15 July 2015)

 

Ommadon – Ommadon (Medusa Crush Recordings/Dry Cough Records/Burning World Records, 08 April 2016)

 

Ommadon – End Times (Dry Cough Records/At War with False Noise/DGRecords/Medusa Crush Recordings, 01 May 2018)

 

Today is going to be Ommadon day. All day long. And that’s really not an exaggeration: you’re going to need all day to plow through the massive heap of noise this Glaswegian duo (featuring David Tobin, guitars, and Ewan Mackenzie, drums/keyboards) has forged together over the past four years!

Fans of the two-minute pop ditty should probably just quit reading right here. But if you’ve ever listened to Ufomammut or Kongh and thought to yourself, “Wow this is great but I really wish all of the songs were way longer and way slower,” well… this just may be your lucky day!

 

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Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch (2018)

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Boss Keloid – Melted on the Inch (Holy Roar Records, 27 April 2018)

 
Ok folks, let’s talk new music. Here’s one that just came out last Friday that you’ll surely want to acquaint yourself with. Two years ago, when north west England’s Boss Keloid released their second album Herb Your Enthusiasm, we described them by borrowing from a press release: “an eclectic mash of riffery, dirge, groove and sway that will leave you feeling heavy, warm and slightly damp in places.”

All of that remains true on this newer release Melted on the Inch, only more so. Very much more so…

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DeathCrawl – Acceptable Level of Misery (2017); Enhailer – Dumb Enough to Care (2017-18)

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DeathCrawl – Acceptable Level of Misery (self-released, 27 October 2017)

 

Enhailer – Dumb Enough to Care (Blackseed Records, 11 December 2017 / vinyl to be released via Burnout Records, 14 June 2018)

 

Last time we checked in with Cleveland-area discordant agonists DeathCrawl was nearly five years ago when we introduced you to Accelerated Rate of Decay, the album they released the previous year. And then, following that incredibly vicious piece of work, this trio has put out another album late last year — which we will be talking about today.

Why today? Well, it has been brought to our attention that tonight the band will be performing in the faroff land of Canton, Ohio for the first time ever. So this belated look at Acceptable Level of Misery is our way of helping to spread the word about that.

And on the subject of releases from near the end of 2017, Enhailer from Akron (which is partway between Cleveland and Canton) will be playing at that same show tonight, and we’re also going to cover their Dumb Enough to Care EP which first came out back in December, but which will be coming out as a 10″ record in about a month and a half. Cheers!

 

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Wovoka – Saros (2015); LLNN/Wovoka – Traces/Marks (2017); LLNN – Deads (2018)

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Wovoka – Saros (digital Locust Rising Music / CD Battleground Records, 14 April 2015)

LLNN/Wovoka – Traces/Marks Split LP (Pelagic Records, 16 June 2017)

LLNN – Deads (Pelagic Records, 27 April 2018)

So a few years back — about three, actually — this Californian heavy sludge band called Wovoka reached out to let us know they were releasing their debut record. We really dug it at the time, and have been revisiting it often ever since then, but somehow never quite got around to writing anything about it. Then last year we got word that these guys were participating in a split LP with Danish band LLNN. And then sometime after that, we learned that THOSE guys would be issuing a new album themselves (their second). That will be hitting the streets tomorrow, but today we’re going to cover all three of those releases.

Also, earlier this week saw the start of a month-long European tour with LLNN joining Bison. After you’re finished reading, keep scrolling down to the bottom where we’ll fill you in on those dates!

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Orphanage Named Earth – Re-Evolve; Soom – Djebars (2018)

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Orphanage Named Earth – Re-Evolve (Argonauta Records, 20 April 2018)

 

Soom – Джєбарс (Robustfellow Prods. / Addicted Label / Voron Nest / Kvlt Ov Ї, 20 April 2018)

 

Today we’ve got two brand-new albums to share with you. These were both released last Friday: the debut full-length of Orphanage Named Earth from Poland (a more precise location for the band is not given, but as the album was recorded in Białystok, let’s assume they come from somewhere nearby), and the sophomore LP by Kharkiv, Ukraine’s Soom.

Any fan of things that are loud and heavy, but also thought-provoking, should find plenty to like with either one of these records — or hopefully both!

 

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