Retro rock itch

I can't believe Witchcraft's The Alchemist has been out since October 1 and I just found out about it today in Decibel. Downloaded it as soon as I got home. I love it, must buy. First song is surprisingly poppy, but I like. Reckless doesn't have it, so where the heck can I get it in Chicago, hrm. I'll call Metal Haven tomorrow.

Fair to Midland

i partied really hard with these dudes

Colour Haze - All (Elektrohasch GER) 08

I don't know how I missed this. Just saw it mentioned in the Metal poll thread. Anyone heard it? What else have I missed? The second Sahg album was disappointing, and I guess I sort of lost track of some of this. I've been enjoying UFOmammut, but not sure they quite fit in this thread.

Interesting, Stonerrock.com became riffrock.com. http://www.riffrock.com/features/index.asp?FeatureID=155

Looks like I need to check these one out too.

Blood Ceremony (Rise Above) 08
Down – Over The Under (Down) 07
Dozer - Beyond Colossal (Small Stone) 08
Grand Magus – Monument (Rise Above) 03
Grand Magus - Wolf’s Return (Candlelight) 05
Grand Magus - Iron Will (Rise Above) 08
Graveyard (Tpe) 08
Solace - The Black Black EP (Underdogma) 07
Solace - A.D. (Small Stone?) 09
Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed (Southern Lord) 07

This comes out tomorrow:

YOB – The Great Cessation (Profound Lore) 09

Picked up Graveyard at Reckless and I love it. Definite Witchcraft sort of sound with some Monster Magnet vocals. Downloaded others, I like Grand Magus - Monument, great vocalist, but other two get a little more power metal. The Colour Haze is gorgeous, Weedeater, Dozer and YOB are definitely heavier. Blood Ceremony has flute in almost all its songs, but still sounds pretty good, heavier than Jethro Tull; Colour Haze is gorgeous.

More:

Burning Saviours (Meteor City) 05
Burning Saviours - Hundus (I Hate Records) 06
Burning Saviours - Nymphs & Weavers (Transubstans) 08
Dead Man (Crusher) 06
Dead Man - Euphoria (Crusher) 08
Elope - The No Name Record (Gravitation) 04
Elope - 3WD (Gravitations) 06
Elope - Distilled Dreams - 9 Distilled Dreams (Gravitations) 07
Gentleman's Pistols (Rise Above) 07

Burning Saviours - Hundus (I Hate Records) 06

i liked this album a lot.

It does seem like that's the best Burning Saviours so far. I think I see why Witchcraft gets more attention though. The singer for Dead Man is awfully warbly, takes some getting used to. Also enjoying these:

Nebula - Heavy Psych 09
RPG - Worth The Weight 08

RPG is pretty energetic and raucous, reminding me at some points of Rocket From the Crypt and vocals similar to Hold Steady's. I like this better!

Just got an excellent Swedish retro hard rock album in the mail - Horisont's Två Sidor av Horisonten. If you like Witchcraft, Dead Man and of course November, the first and greatest Swedish hard-blues-psych-rock band, you'll love this. It absolutely could have been recorded in 1972. Side One (tracks 1-5) in English, Side Two (tracks 6-10) in Swedish.

Dead Man's "Euphoria" seconded. Extra points for singing "squeeze my lemon" on a record in 2008.

Elope's "no-name record" is really nice, though quite a bit poppier than the rest of the stuff on this thread. Reminds me of "Parachute" by Pretty Things. In a similar vein, has anyone heard the Pet Genius album? A side project by a guy from Cave In (who I've not really ever heard), it reminds me of Elope but adds more Kyuss-y guitar here and there and traces of White Stripes.

Is it November or Novembre? What are some key albums? There's like a dozen bands called November and I can't find any reference to one as the greatest from Sweden!

I see the Horisont is on Crusher, Dead Man's label, and won't be out until September 25th. Something to look forward to, thanks!

Pet Genius album is decent, no real resemblance to Cave In (um, for those who've heard them) - seems like he's trying to get on an Elephant 6 tip sometimes

Is it November or Novembre?

november. their "en ny tid ar har" and "2:a" albums are great. better than most of the revival stuff by far.

Hawkwindz Johnson is right. It's November, and they were only active from about '69/70-'72. They put out three studio albums - En Ny Tid Ar Här, 2:a November and 6:e November, all of which are well worth hearing. There was a very posthumous live album (recorded in 1971, released in the early 2000s) also, just called Live.

you might want to check out the Valhall album on Phil Anselmo's Housecore label. it was recorded in 1999 ( i think?) and is just being released now. norwegian stoner doom. some good tracks. and fenriz of darkthrone on drums.

on vinyl too:

http://www.theomegaorder.com/VALHALL-Red-Planet_2

Thanks for the tips. Graveyard are playing HoB in Chicago on Aug 5! Same night as Alehorn of Power fest. I hate to miss Slough Feg, but I'm really in the mood to check out someone new. Aside from The Jesus Lizard, Pfork didn't really have any decent hard rockin' bands. In the past they'd had The Sword, Blue Cheer and Mastodon. I actually regretted not going to see Judas Priest perform British Steel at Charter One last night instead.

Here's yet another Swedish band. Abramis Brama have been around a whole decade. Their most recent is supposed to be their best.

Abramis Brama - Smakar Söndag (Transubstans) 09

My favorite tune on the Graveyard album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCvxo1HowAI

Cool live performance from Dead Man:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7R_h29ptL4&feature=player_embedded

Dead Weather rocks out to a Pentagram cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svx39gvd-0I

Damn, I'm loving Abramis Brama. Lyrics are mostly in Swedish, but it doesn't matter to me. Most of the lyrics from these bands are inconsequential. I'm not going to be singing along or doing karaoke. Abramis Brama did re-record some old songs in 2003 in English on the Nothing Changes album. Here's a really raw live video. Beware, turn your speakers way down when you play it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgkRLKQjfXE&feature=player_embedded

I wrote up a primer on recent, mostly Swedish stoner rock - http://mog.com/fastnbulbous/blog/1407517

Wow, yet another band. I noticed the label Rockadrome, which reissued the 1972 Jerusalem album (produced by Ian Gillan, Witchcraft almost sounds more like Jersusalem than Pentagram), also reissued an album by Siena Root, another Swedish retro band. Their 4th album comes out August 29th.

Siena Root - A New Day Dawning (Rockadrome) 04
Siena Root - Kaleidoscope (Nasoni) 06
Siena Root - Far From The Sun (Transubstans) 08
Siena Root - Different Realities (Transubstans/Rockadrome) 09

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqsyMuqEs9g

To paraphrase from the old 'red book' Rolling Stone record guide: Sounds like the backing band for a lead singer who never appears.

Ah the witty one-liner dismissal. Oskar Lundström is actually a pretty great singer, sort of a mix between Paul Rodgers, Glenn Hughes and Kristoffer Sjoedahl of Dead Man. I have that Rolling Stone red book. It's the worst-written guide I've ever read.

Ancestors - Of Sound Mind (Tee Pee)
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker (Modular)
Sleepy Sun - Fever (ATP)
Karma To Burn - Appalachian Incantation (Napalm)
Night Horse (Tee Pee) Aug 3
Quest For Fire - Lights From Paradise (Tee Pee} Aug 31

According to their Myspace page, Graveyard's second album is being mixed. Can't wait! What else is coming out? Magnus Pelander of Witchcraft has a solo album out, having trouble finding much info at the moment...

since this thread is resurrected (and I've been listening to Trouble and Cathedral tonight), I'm curious -- any opinions on Firebird? Bill Steer from Carcass's retro-rock band??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebird_%28band%29

I think the Mount Carmel LP fits this thread.

I second Mt. Carmel & I'll also throw in an older one: Dr. Brown.

Dr. Brown!!!! lol!!!

is this maybe the first invocation of Dr. Brown on ILM??

I only laugh because I am a big fan. But they strike me as such, "British festival" fodder or something

But hell, if nothing else their track "FreakBeat" cannot be denied as a Modern Psych CLASSIC!!

I heard some earlier Firebird and kind of forgot about them. I listened to the Mt Carmel and Firebird - Grand Union (2009) while barbecuing this afternoon, and they sounded good. The latest Firebird album is better than what I remember of the earlier stuff. Not sure about the songs on Mt Carmel - lots of drum and bass solos, but it sounded real nice.

stormy, have you checked out bushman's revenge yet? more on the proggy outrock tip, but they've got the jamz:

http://www.myspace.com/bushmansrevenge

:-) Dr. Brown & Dr. Frond wuz both pretty freekin good, IMHO. Seems like there was another Bevis Frond/Woronzow-related band that might fit in this discussion. I think it was Scorched Earth, or maybe the record was titled Scorched Earth. I don't think it was as good as Dr. Brown, but it was mining a similar stream. Speaking of "Dr." bands, Dr. Phibes & the Whatever-the-heck-they-were wasn't bad. It struck me as too slick, and the Hendrix comparisons were unwise at best.

I think the Magnus Pelander album is just an EP. Seems to be only available direct from the label so far.

Night Horse - Perdition Hymns (Tee Pee) is out today.
http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/07/27/night-horse-perdition-hymns-new-album/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NoiseCreep+%28NoiseCreep.com%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbnfIgZe2DU&feature=player_embedded

Above is a new song. No word on when then new album comes out.

Still trying to find a sample of this release that came out earlier in the year - Brutus (Transubstan). Tempted to order it from Allthatisheavy simply based on this amusing English-as-second-language review - http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/b_2/brutus_-_brutus.htm

Pretty groovy so far, heh. http://www.myspace.com/brutusband

For those who like their stoner rockers unhealthily obsessed with Thin Lizzy, this hits the spot:

Gypsyhawk - Patience And Perseverance (Creator-Destructor)
http://soundrevolutionhome.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/gypsyhawk-patience-and-perseverance/
Aquarius:

All right, another "hawk" band. Lately there's been Freedom Hawk, and Doomhawk. Being somewhat "stoner rock", this is one that should also appeal to the same folks who liked Freedom Hawk. And going way back, maybe even Hawkwind. Though the classic '70s rock band that these guys most remind us of is Thin Lizzy. A LOT. They're overtly, utterly under the spell of Thin Lizzy (a band that's more influential now than ever it seems). The melodic but husky vocals are like a gruffer Phil Lynott, the twin guitars twine together harmoniously in classic Lizzy fashion. And heck, in case we didn't get it, they even do a song entitled "For Those Who Love The Lizz" that not only sounds like Lizzy, but has lyrics that cleverly consist of references to that band's songs, like "the hero and the madman", "renegade boys back in town", "that blue orphanage in the shade", etc., as a tribute to their Irish inspiration! Although, overall, Gypsyhawk are more than a tribute, bringing in elements of garage, doom, punk, prog, and good ol' metal along with the specific Lizzy/Lynott influence.

Turns out, Gypsyhawk vocalist/bassist Eric Harris used to be in blackened thrashers Skeletonwitch, another killer band we like quite a bit. What we heard was that he got kicked out of Skeletonwitch, or otherwise quit the band, while they were on tour. This happened in Los Angeles, and instead of catching a Greyhound bus back home to Ohio where Skeletonwitch are from, though, Harris decided to stay in LA and start his own band there! Which, we gotta say, is a pretty darn rock n' roll thing to do. Thus, Gypsyhawk was born. And they're quite a bit different from Skeletonwitch (whose dual guitars dated from a different era) but equally awesome. For those into more melodic stuff, anachronistically proto-metal, especially so. These guys have the riffs, the leads, the melodic hooks, and the heaviness, to be right up there in the "hawk" band pantheon. Rockin' and majestic stuff that should go down well with fans of Lizzy-lovin' bands like Bible Of The Devil, Hot Fog, Falcon, and Valkyrie.

this is a great thread.

ENDLESS BOOGIE

to thread!

Yeah, Endless Boogie - Full House Head is pretty good! Also, I mentioned in another thread, Gozu - Locust Season is a lot of fun if you like some first-album era Queens of the Stone Age.

Anything else lately?

the new black mountain -- which i love -- fits the bill.

Out today: <a href=http://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords/item/11738>;Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients (Rise Above)</a>
I'm gonna go buy it during lunch I think.

Dying to hear this: Graveyard - Hisingen Blues (Nuclear Assault) Mar 25. That's the European release date, U.S. in April.

Other faves like Witchcraft, Colour Haze and Dead Man have been quite for a few years now.

Out today: Blood Ceremony - Living With The Ancients (Rise Above)
I'm gonna go buy it during lunch I think.

Dying to hear this: Graveyard - Hisingen Blues (Nuclear Assault) Mar 25. That's the European release date, U.S. in April.

Other faves like Witchcraft, Colour Haze and Dead Man have been quite for a few years now.

Was anyone in Germany for last month's Up In Smoke festival? Wish I coulda seen that. I'll have to check out Sungrazer and Rotor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6St-brz9iY

One of the most gorgeous settings for a live musical performance I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmK-ukwTfUA

Speaking of Colour Haze, I've been digging into a couple older albums that I just found - Co2 (2000) and Ewige Blumenkraft (2001). Just grabbed first album, Chopping Machine (1995), which is much different. I'm excited to learn they have a new album coming out!

http://www.soundofliberation.com/tl_files/01_home/lp_slide/01_Colourhaze_preview_newalbum.jpg

Was listed as 2010, haven't seen an updated release date yet.

I wrote about Blood Ceremony on MSN today. They've improved a lot since their debut, which I found boring.

Nice! I just bought that last night, I agree.

I found out the Colour Haze album, titled She Said, is delayed until they resolve some technical problems that happened during the recording. Meanwhile, I wrote an overview and made a sampler mix - http://www.fastnbulbous.com/colour-haze.htm

While working on the Colour Haze piece, I also listened to some bands on their Elektrohasch label. Good stuff. I like Sungrazer best, just some good, heavy, fuzz rock. I liked the other My Sleeping Karma album, don't know why I missed the new one. Hypnos 69 are a lot different from the normal stoner roster, with some wild free jazz saxophone stuff. I like it when in the right mood. Rotor is mostly instrumental, solid.

Sungrazer (Elektrohasch)
My Sleeping Karma - Tri (Elektrohasch)
Hypnos 69 - Legacy (Elektrohasch)
Rotor - 4 (Elektrohasch)

I also caught up on these:

Truckfighters - Mania (Fuzzorama) 09
Ancestors - Neptune With Fire (North Atlantic Sound) 08
Truckfighters - Phi (Fuzzorama) 07
Rotor - 3 (Elektrohasch) 07
Hypnos 69 - Eclectic Measure (Elektrohasch) 06
Dozer - Through The Eyes Of Heathens (Small Stone) 05
Truckfighters - Gravity X (MeteorCity) 05
Dozer - Call It Conspiracy (Molten Universe) 03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnGBa8dVm6k&feature=player_embedded

Review of Graveyard - Hisingen Blues at The Obelisk - http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2011/02/25/graveyardreview/
My updated Stoner Rock Primer - http://www.fastnbulbous.com/stoner-rock.htm

Nice piece! Really like that Sungrazer record. Two recommendations if you haven't heard them: Sasquatch - Sasquatch II, and Ramon Zarate - Oyster.

Thanks, I've heard of Sasquatch but haven't tracked it down yet. Like my Colour Haze piece, the Primer has a mix -- click on the Graveyard graphic at top.

Upcoming:

Ancestors - Invisible White EP (Tee Pee) Jun 21
Sungrazer - Mirador (Elektrohasch) Jul 8
Cherry Choke – A Night In The Arms Of Venus... (Elektrohasch) Jul 30
Gozu – Vatican Assassin Warlocks (Small Stone) TBA

The Soda Shop site lists Witchcraft as possibly coming out with something this year, but I hadn't heard of any activity from them, with Pelander supposedly working on a solo full length.

http://youtu.be/3ZyvY-ithBc

Truckfighters 'Fuzzomentary' that they're trying to get fans to finance the DVD release. Gonna see them on July 20, Gozu & Freedom Hawk Oct 1 in Chicago.

Sungrazer's Mirador is out today. It's like wrastlin' with Sweetums the 500 lb muppet -- spine-tingling soft fuzziness can turn to spine-crushing heaviness at any moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bxH7FpFk68&feature=player_embedded

That teaser makes me want it. Really enjoyed the debut.

These are all retro rock. Mostly because that's what I learned.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrDickDestiny#p/u

Man, they make it hard to buy this stuff. Over a month later, and AllThatIsHeavy still isn't stocking the Sungrazer album. Also on Elektrohasch, Cherry Choke – A Night In The Arms Of Venus came out Jul 30. Who knows when I'll get to hear it. Every label should give an option to buy FLAC and such direct.

Freedom Hawk - Holding On (Small Stone) Aug 16
Colour Haze - She Said (Elektrohasch) Sep 9
Gordon Fights (Transubstans) Sep 24
Rwake - Rest (Relapse) Sep 27

Yep, the new Colour Haze is finally coming out! I'm tempted to pre-order it here - http://www.recordheaven.net/index.cfm?x=browseArtist&ID=3965&iID=125526#cgi.SCRIPT_NAME#

For all I know, ATIS won't stock it 'til November.