REVIEW: Tuskar, "The Tide, Beneath, The Wall" EP

By Andrew Field

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 07/12/2018

Label: Riff Rock Records

“The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” is likely to be one of the best EPs you’ll hear in 2018. Immerse yourself in it. It’s quite a ride.

“The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” CD//DD track listing:

1). The Tide

2). Beneath

3). The Wall

The Review:

I’m going to make a grand statement here, but one which will be backed up by anyone who’s caught these boys performing in dark and dingy venues over the last two years: Tuskarare the most exciting live band in the UK right now. On stage they are breathtakingly incendiary:  an aural hurricane demolishing everything in sight. After a typical half hour set you look around the venue to see Tuskar fans giving each other that knowing look, whilst newbies are busy pulling their jaws off the floor.

Most exceptional live bands fail to capture the visceral energy of their shows when they get in the studio. That’s not the case here. Tuskar’s molten riff workouts, so immaculately captured by Sam Thredder at the Slabdraggerguitarist’s Cro’s Nest Studio, are voluptuous in their groove and tone. “The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” is a quite exceptional piece of work.

Whilst you can hear reflections of Conan, Mastodon, BongCauldron and others in Tuskar’s sonic melange they are subsumed deep within the duo’s own electrifying musical howl. Underpinning everything is Tyler Hodges’ undulating drums: always groove-fuelled, often polyrhythmic, youthfully powerful. Rhythmically, moments of full-on head-nodding swagger flow effortlessly into fast passages packed full of time changes or snare rolls. He hits his crash cymbals then grasps them, playing on and off the bell of his ride cymbal, creating milliseconds of sonic wonder which you look forward to each and every time he does it. And Hodges does this whilst delivering Jon Davis-like monotone vocal bellows and wails which perfectly fit the music brewing underneath them him.

Tom Dimmock, like Hodges only in his early 20s, is already a tone monster. Nowhere is this more apparent then on closing track “The Wall”, which opens with huge slow swathes of distortion and gain-soaked guitar, becoming more and more widescreen as the track builds through its eight-minute duration. His psychedelic, echo-drenched solo towards the end of the track is a veritable masterclass in subtle, understated, less-is-more beauty.

There is a noticeable maturity in these three tracks. If last year’s debut EP “Arianrhod” was full of youthful vim and vehemence, “The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” shows what a difference 12 months can make. Tuskar have moved forward, as writers and musicians. They’ll doubtless be off to tour the fuck out of this release, honing their craft even further. Thus, I’m salivating at the thought of how good their debut full-length album is going to be when they get around to making it.

In the meantime, “The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” is likely to be one of the best EPs you’ll hear in 2018. Immerse yourself in it. It’s quite a ride.

“The Tide, Beneath, The Wall” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: The Skull, "The Endless Road Turns Dark"

By: Andrew Field

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/09/2018
Label: Tee Pee Records

When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before

‘The Endless Road Turns Dark’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Endless Road Turns Dark
2. Ravenswood
3. Breathing Underwater
4. The Longing
5. From Myself Depart
6. As the Sun Draws Near
7. All That Remains (Is True)
8. Thy Will Be Done

The Review:

The word “legend” is overused, but not in the case of Eric Wagner: the voice of Trouble, Blackfinger and The Skull for the last 30 years. One of doom’s most influential yet humble frontmen, Wagner is enjoying a creative purple patch at present. Earlier this year he reactivated Blackfingerand the resulting album was his most mature and confident release since leaving Troublein 2008.  If Blackfinger replaced the chug of Troublewith a more deliciously relaxed vibe (which was solid gold), then the new album by The Skullbrings back the barnstorming doom of the Chicagotitans he fronted for almost two decades.

From the first few notes of the title track – which opens the album – you’re in instantly familiar Wagner territory. Able Lieutenant and doom bass god Ron Holzner is still at his side, anchoring the bottom end with former Cathedral drummer Brian Dixon. Over their thunderous melee guitarists Lothar Keller and Rob Wrong trade solos and huge rhythmic slabs of riffage which churn and grind with wilful abandon. It’s one hell of a beautiful sound.Third track “Breathing Underwater” is an early highlight: funeral pace doom with a chorus built around a startling guitar motif which is guaranteed to give you goose bumps. “From Myself Departs” starts like nothing else in the band’s canon, with Holzer laying down a funk bassline over which a Hendrixian riff floats (bringing to mind Living Colour or Stevie Salas Colorcode) before the band slam back into a more comfortable sturm and drang groove and full-on ‘galloping horses’ bridge section which is the best thing on the record.

Elsewhere you get the standard slower number, “All That Remains (Is True)”, which shuffles wonderfully in 6/4 time, and a massive closing boogie in “Thy Will Be Done”. When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before. They haven’t thrown the baby out with the bath water. But they’ve bought a modern and quite wonderful new bath.

Wagner turns 60 next April. It’s great to hear him and his compadres growing old this disgracefully.  Long may they continue to do so.

“The Endless Road Turns Black” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Yawning Man, ‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’

By: Andrew Field

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 06/07/2018

Label: Heavy Psych Sounds

Yawning Man have upped their game. They’ve always been life affirming, but now they’re just plain vital. ‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’ is nothing short of sheer sonic perfection.

 ‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Black Kite
2. Revolt Against Tired Noises
3. Skyline Pressure
4. Grant’s Heart
5. Violent Lights
6. Catamaran
7. Misfortune Cookies
8. Ghost Beach

The Review:

It’s been a long, strange and beautiful ride for Yawning Man. From their infamous generator parties in the Californian deserts in the late 1980s to their stunning 2016 third album ‘Historical Graffiti’, guitarist Gary Arce and bassist Mario Lalli have built their musical legacy at a snail’s pace and with scant regard for commercial considerations. Their lush, trippy, widescreen instrumental compositions have thrilled those in the know, with live shows becoming borderline religious experiences. ‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’ is easily and by some stretch the best Yawning Man album to date.

Opening cut ‘Black Kite’ is the finest piece of music they’ve put their name to. Indeed, it might just be the most perfect five minutes of rock you’ll wrap your ears around in 2018. Ambient, achingly melancholy, it tingles and shines and soars and sounds like heaven. There are several other equally breath-taking Yawning Man classics here, but the big curve ball and shock news for hardcore fans is that two songs feature Mario Lalli on vocals. And wonderful they are too: ‘Grant’s Heart’ benefits from his wondrous syrupy crooning, adding a whole new emotional layer over the sumptuous lead guitar lines underneath. The second sung song sees Yawning Man finally commit ‘Catamaran’ to vinyl: their own composition, but one made famous by Kyuss on the stoner kings 1995 album ‘The Circus Leaves Town’.

Yawning Man have upped their game. They’ve always been life affirming, but now they’re just plain vital. ‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’ is nothing short of sheer sonic perfection.

‘The Revolt Against Tired Noises’ is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters, "Come & Chutney"

By Andrew Field

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 13/07/2018

Label: Riff Rock Records

 “Come & Chutney”is remarkable in so many ways, but perhaps most tellingly when the album ends you want to both play it again and go see one of their shows immediately. With no flab to be found on it, and packed with hooks which will lodge in your brain for months, “Come and Chutney” is damn near perfect.

“Cum & Chutney” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Doggy Bag Of Slurry

2). Krones Of The Kiln

3). Cojones Feos

4). Glue Ear

5). Gutlads

6). Gawdless

7). Doner Trump

8). Psychedelic Hallucinogenic Vagrancy

The Review:

Watching Chubby Thunderous Bad Kush Masters live is a truly life affirming experience. Few other bands lock in and groove like they do. Built on the thunderous rhythm section of drummer Mark Buckwell and four stringer Will Hart, with frontman Owen Karty laying ocean-sized fuzzed-up riffs and gravelly vowel-mangling vocals over the top, their sheer sonic power is matched by their fierce tie-die t-shirt and corpse-painted stage presence.

Whilst their debut 2015 EP “Earth Hog” was a sterling effort, it served more as a momento of their live shows than anything. Their songs on the 2017 “Special Split” with Ten Foot Wizard likewise. And so, one was left wondering if Chubby were to be one of those bands who never quite caught their onstage majesty on vinyl.

All such fears are swept away after just one play of “Come & Chutney”,and after several spins it’s clear the trio have created something quite special. We’re talking “candidate for album of the year” levels of goodness here. From the opening riff of “Doggy Bag Of Slurry” onwards, the Chubbs deliver 8 slabs of buzzsaw boogie and achieve the remarkable feat of making them all killer with no absolutely no filler.

Every track packs a punch and is an ear worm: we’re talking 40-odd minutes of vim, four-to-the-floor swagger, drug and kebab love, and a good old go at Donald Trump. Immaculately captured by Sam Thredder in his Cro’s Nest studio, Buckwell’s bass drum is constantly battering your head and driving each seismic anthem forward. Hart’s bass rumbles and thunders. Karty’s guitars are constantly set to stun. When Chubbyproperly hit their stride, on the majestic “Krones Of The Kiln”, they sound like the bastard offspring of ZZ Topcirca ”Rhythmeen”. Only better.

The best is left to last. Closing 10-minute wig-out “Psychedelic Hallucinogenic Vagrancy” turns off the fuzz and ramps up the heavy psych, starting with a beautifully plucked guitar motif then building through to an explosive organ-led finale featuring guests Chantal Brown of Vodun and Gary Harkin of Ten Foot Wizard. The song reeks of weed and sounds like 1969.

“Come & Chutney”is remarkable in so many ways, but perhaps most tellingly when the album ends you want to both play it again and go see one of their shows immediately. With no flab to be found on it, and packed with hooks which will lodge in your brain for months, “Come and Chutney” is damn near perfect.

“Come & Chutney”is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook