BEER & LOUDNESS IN LAS VEGAS — THREE DAYS AT PSYCHO FEST 2021 (DAY 3)

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Sep 022021
 

 

(We’ve been enjoying the hell out of our friend Gonzo‘s reports on the 2021 edition of Psycho Fest in Las Vegas a couple weekends ago, and hope you have too. Today we present his third and final write-up, concerning his adventures on the fest’s last day.)

 

“The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride.”

–Hunter S. Thompson

Those words from the good doctor rang out in my brain the moment I opened my eyes on Sunday morning. My ears were still ringing in spite of wearing earplugs for the majority of Saturday, but like so much else, Vegas cannot be bothered with your feeble attempts at self-care. Continue reading »

BEER & LOUDNESS IN LAS VEGAS — THREE DAYS AT PSYCHO FEST (DAY 2)

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 312021
 

 

(Denver-based NCS contributor Gonzo was in Vegas two weekends ago for the 2021 edition of Psycho Fest, and has been sending us some great write-ups of what he witnessed. His journal for Day 1 is here, and this is his report on Day 2.)

Vegas is a devourer of good intentions.

Its only purpose in this existence is to rob you of your sobriety, your bank account, your dignity, and your sanity. It cares nothing for your early-morning lamentations of the bad decisions you made the night before. The endless air-conditioned hallways of cigarette-crusted casinos and overpriced restaurants and tourist traps will be there the next day, waiting for that inevitable moment when you’ve become inebriated enough to shrug and once again say “what the hell, why not.”

The likelihood of you succumbing to this seemingly innocent urge increases with each passing hour on any given point during a weekend in Vegas. I knew from the moment I rose out of bed on day 2 of Psycho Fest that this would be the case, and the day would soon stretch beyond an ordinary festival and into an endurance contest. The schedule of bands we had carefully crafted ahead of time would either prove untenable or test the limits of how hard we could party in one day. Or maybe both.

At around 11 a.m., we left the tranquility of our Excalibur hotel room and sauntered once more into the soulless void. Today’s main attractions? Cannibal Corpse, Poison the Well, Dying Fetus, Cult of Fire, and a whole helluva lot more. Continue reading »

BEER & LOUDNESS IN LAS VEGAS – THREE DAYS AT PSYCHO FEST 2021 (DAY 1)

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 302021
 

 

(Our pal Gonzo took in the 2021 edition of Psycho Fest in Las Vegas and returned to Denver fortunately symptom-free, other than what happened to his head over the three days of the fest, and he has provided a synopsis of the experiences, beginning with the following report on Day 1. We expect reports on the next two days as well)

DAY 1

There is no source of frustration quite like being forcibly stuck in an airport for any length of time longer than absolutely necessary.

I was reminded of this grim reality two Fridays ago when my arrival at Denver International Airport coincided with one of the airport’s underground trains catastrophically breaking down. Ensuing damage and delays had forced the airport to close all but one terminal. The scene was absolute chaos – security queues wrapped around entire terminals, people screaming at TSA agents, confusion, madness, panic… one woman ended up in handcuffs after going into a terrifying rage and sobbing. It was looking like the 10:15 a.m. landing at my final destination, Psycho Fest 2021 in Las Vegas, was slowly slipping out of my grasp.

By the grace of Thor, the one terminal that stayed open ended up being the one we were flying out of. The flight was delayed by an hour or two, but we were somehow able to board and land safely and without any further unexpected pandemonium. Vegas would have plenty of that in the days to come anyway. Continue reading »

GONZO’S HEAVY ROUNDUP, JULY 2021

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Jul 302021
 


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(Gonzo presents another end-of-month roundup spotlighting releases that have attracted his enthusiastic attention.)

I have, and always will be, a voracious consumer of new music. Though nothing may take the place of how much fun it was to trade tapes with other weirdos in dark corners behind every sweaty beer-stained venue in creation, it’s sure as hell convenient to now find the same variety of under-the-radar bands on Bandcamp and Spotify.

With this installment of my monthly Heavy Roundup, I managed to find a list of bands that span the metal spectrum. I think that’s a testament to how insanely diverse and varied extreme music has become. And, seriously, few things bring me more joy in life than making playlists and sharing new music with people.

Hence, this column was born. Here are the albums and EPs I’ve highlighted from the month of July (and technically, one from June that passed me by until now.) Continue reading »

ETERNAL VALLEY: “KINGDOM OF MISERY”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 262021
 

 

(Our contributor Gonzo wrote this review of the new album by Eternal Valley from Portland, Oregon, which was released earlier this month by Northern Silence Productions.)

While I’ve certainly endured plenty of shit over the past year, as I’m sure all of us have to some degree, the right music can capture the mood and makes the grief a little more bearable. There’s a certain comfort in listening to music that’s been written and played by someone who might be experiencing the same thing you are at the time, and when it’s played so intensely and urgently, it can prove to be downright fucking cathartic.

All of this is what I immediately felt the first time I listened to Kingdom of Misery by the Northwest’s one-man master of the morose, Eternal Valley. Continue reading »

STONE HEALER // DORDEDUH // KATAAN

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
May 252021
 

 

(Our contributor Gonzo returns to us with a trio of reviews, focusing on records released within the last month — by Stone Healer, Dordeduh, and Kataan.)

 

STONE HEALER // CONQUISTADOR

To say “there’s a lot to unpack here” about the latest album from Connecticut duo (!) Stone Healer would only be touching the very tip of an extremely jagged and angular iceberg.

Practically bursting with trailblazing creativity at every turn, Conquistador is a massively satisfying listen. Brothers Matt and Dave Kaminsky manage to compress three or four albums’ worth of ideas into each of the seven songs here, and absolutely none of it sounds rushed or contrived. Just with opening track “One Whisper,” the brothers flex an incredible amount of musical muscle: They go from a light acoustic intro, segueing into a cowbell-laden alternative rock verse, and seamlessly shift into a punishing blast-beat. And that’s not even half the song length. Continue reading »

BONGZILLA: “WEEDSCONSIN”

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Apr 282021
 

 

(We present Gonzo’s review of the new album by Bongzilla, which was released on April 20th by Heavy Psych Sounds.)

Unlike a fine wine, weed doesn’t age well. Even if you keep it stored at just the right temperature, it’ll lose its potency and flavor at around six months to a year. This is quite obviously a bummer and just proves you should embrace the moment and roll up that joint you were going to smoke. Do it quick, before you forget what you were gonna d… wait, what were we talking about again?

Ah, right. It’s been 16 years since we’ve heard anything new from stoner metal mainstays Bongzilla, but as they fire up the amps and pack a fresh bowl for Weedsconsin, they’ve proven that they’re far more resilient than the ephemeral shelf-life of their favorite substance. Continue reading »

A TALE OF TWO WOLVES

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Mar 122021
 

 

(In this post our contributor Gonzo reviews two wolfish records which were released one week ago — and this dual review would have been published one week ago except for our editor (me) having been brutally distracted by his day job.)

I feel like the onslaught of high-quality albums we’re already seeing in 2021 is a promising sign. Either that or everyone’s going out of their fucking minds without shows, travel, and the requisite level of creative outlets. (Hopefully not for very much longer.) Whatever it is, it’s already March and this month is chock-full of music that sounds urgent as hell, commanding your attention when the rest of the world continues to unfurl from its unending corridor of suck.

Last week, though, we saw the release of new music from Wolf King and Wolfheart. If the old legends are true and there are in fact two wolves that live inside of us all, existing in a perpetual state of conflict over which one gets to wrest control of our collective psyche in some kind of moral struggle for the ages, then… I dunno, maybe they were just really into wolves? My metaphor game is leaving some serious shit to be desired today.

Fortunately, the music released by both wolves today is anything but lacking. Continue reading »

SARIN: “YOU CAN’T GO BACK”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 032021
 

 

(Here’s Gonzo’s review of the new album by the Toronto-based band Sarin, which is out now on Prosthetic Records.)

If you want to consider the future of “post-metal” as a genre, you won’t have to look very far to find the trailblazers showing us the way.

You could look as far back as the mid-’90s, when Neurosis began their transformation from sludgy hardcore into a subgenre-defining behemoth.

You could look at the glory days of ISIS circa 2005, when Aaron Turner and co. dished out slabs of ethereal heaviness that defied explanation.

And now, you can look at bands like Toronto-based Sarin, whose nasty, emotive brand of sonic vitriol is poised to bring post-metal into the present – with a vengeance. Continue reading »

GATECREEPER: “AN UNEXPECTED REALITY”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 022021
 

 

(Here’s Gonzo’s review of the unexpected new album by Arizona’s Gatecreeper, which was discharged by Closed Casket Activities on January 13th.)

From the endlessly bizarre timeline in which it’s being released to the sheer out-of-nowhere, smack-you-upside-the-head-and-run surprise of the release itself, I think it’s safe to say nobody saw this album coming.

And maybe that’s the point. After all, bands like Gatecreeper don’t really entertain much in the way of being subtle. Their bludgeoning songwriting, pounding rhythm section, and Chase Mason’s unearthly howl have solidified the band’s sound as instantly recognizable in the death metal underground.

And even though those elements are as present as ever on An Unexpected Reality, this sonic blowtorch falls a little short of the decimation it wants to inflict. Continue reading »

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