Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad - Subject To Change

Robot Recordings
2014

"Subject To Change" is the sixth full-length release from Bucks County, PA-based rock band Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad. Engineered by Nick Cislak (Commonwealth Choir/Eric Venuto*) and band leader/singer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Ujj at Ujj's own Robot Recordings studio, "Subject To Change" was amazingly enough recorded over the course of a mere three days during which time time Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad put a full five hours worth of material to tape! Naturally this nine-track album features only the best moments from the three-day session with Joe Ujj and his companions (drummers Todd Mason and  J.P. Wasieko, bassist/vocalist RJ Gilligan and keyboardist Joe Montone) navigating the long divide between eighties college rock and mid-period Radiohead! With it's slow build-up and psychedelic after-effects "The Creek" is simply an inspired choice as far as opening numbers go and as the listener comfortably drifts into "Lipstick Hate" the truly dream-like structure of Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad comes to life. Guest guitarist Chris Halford appears on both numbers (as well as the excellent cut "Infinite"!) and his lead work on the album's first three tracks makes "Subject To Change" feel inspired! Of course there is plenty of life to be found beyond the limits of these first few songs. The slightly-charged (ragged) garage rocker "Everyone Deserves The Same Thing", the feed-back heavy "Storm Witch" and "Ride The Pony" (with it's Radiohead on LSD, space-rock greatness!) all offer different perspectives of Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad. And the same goes for melancholy track "Lucky Old Sun". The dreariest moment on "Subject To Change", "Lucky Old Sun" aches with pain and sorrow so it is good fortune that Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's sixth full-length studio album ends on a more positive note with "Token Of Home". A devilishly-cleaver song, "Token Of Home" combines this band's love of early to mid-period Radiohead, "Their Satanic Majesties Request"-era Rolling Stones, "Maggot Brain"-era Funkadelic and the dynamics of post-grunge into one guitar-heavy cut! With that kind of a number closing out "Subject To Change" there is literally nothing to complain about when it about Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's latest album. Be sure to head over here to find out more about this band: https://www.facebook.com/birdienumnumandthespiritsquad/info

* Eric Venuto (percussion, vocals and noises) is actual a guest musician on Birdie Num Num and the Spirit Squad's "Subject To Change".

Purveyors Of Fiction-Invisible Ink

Refried Audio
2014

As promised this is the second band/second release from well-traveled musician/versatile lead vocalist Nick Pecone (Burns To The Soul, Carriedbysix, ex-Uptight Sugar, ex-Autumn Awaits, ex-Diablo Mojo, ex-The Bentreys, ex-The Decoys and ex-Vrede Hemel) to be covered here at Heavy Metal Time Machine. The previous act, as some of you may recall (ie: the handful of loyal readers that I have who remain under lock and key at the various prisons and mental help facilities across this great land of ours), was Ohio modern metal/progressive metal band Carriedbysix (http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=Carried+By+Six-Carried+By+Six+) who, unlike today's entry, fell squarely into the more "loud and proud" category. But, before we get into what makes this trio tick how about a little bit of history? Here's the "official" bio as sent to me by Nick Pecone (lead vocals & bass) himself. "Nick was drunk at the Agora bitching about how they stole his boxcutters he'd forgotten on him from work. He told Drew* he'd start a band with him because Nick starts bands when he's drinking. Drew thought Nick was a creepy dickhead but he'd suffice until he could find someone new. Drew and Luke were already friends and with Nick they had a full lineup so the band formed. At this point no one has come forward to replace Nick, unfortunately, so he's stuck in the lineup". Got that? Yes? No? Need more help? Alright. So, besides Nick Pecone** of course, Purveyors Of Fiction features guitarist Andrew Minor (Twat Waffle) and drummer Luke Heberle (also the guitarist/lead vocalist of Sails). On their new, just recently-released so it still has that new car smell folks(!), six-track EP, "Invisible Ink", vocalist Nick Pecone and company offer up what they call "stoner blues punk". Of course on their Facebook page Purveyors Of Fiction  is also described as "A Heavy Psychedelic Blues-Punk Trio". Now, if you are like me at all (in which case I truly do feel remorse for you!) you'd probably think of Blue Cheer if you heard the phrase "Heavy Psychedelic Blues-Punk Trio". Or at least something similar. The truth is Purveyors Of Fiction, which lists there influences as being Queens of the Stone Age, The Misfits, Boris. Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Bad Religion and Wisdom In Chains, are all of that (stoner, punk, blues, psychedelic rock) and much, much more! And that's what makes this EP a sure-fire pick-up! These six tracks, which end up clocking in at about 23 minute, really do cover a lot of ground. For example, opener "Veins" is fuzzy, feedback-infused post-rock/grunge (Swans meets The Velvet Underground meets Nirvana perhaps?) while "Darling Darla" (great title!) reminds me of both Blue Cheer and the Butthole Surfers! "Good Man" is blues by way of acid rock and then there's a cut like "Drowning" where, under the cover of night and layers of distortion, this trio trips the light fantastic with some wonderfully diverse groups such as Queens of the Stone Age and Iron Butterfly although honestly there's plenty of love shown to both The Germs and Iggy & The Stooges as well! Closing cut "Gypsy" sounds like Beck being covered by a super-group made up of members of The Melvins, Sonic Youth and Suicide, all of which wraps this EP up in a rather lovely fashion! Length-wise the shortest track here is the dirty punk rocker "Poison Kiss" at 2:46 while the aforementioned "Darling Darla" (again, just love that title!) has a run-time of 4:30. Translated that means that not one of these tracks over-stays it's welcome. Available at a price of $5.00 (for the digital download at least which is linked below), "Invisible Ink" is a worthwhile pick up for punks and bangers alike!

*Otherwise known as Andrew Minor!

**While racking my head trying to figure out who Nick reminded me of in this band (as he really is a versatile front-man as observed in the different delivery he provides here verses Carriedbysix!) I stumbled across this review (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeouLbRXoOc) on YouTube. As I believe in giving due credit where credit is due (sorry, but I couldn't help myself with that little bit!) I want to thank "Master Exploder" (no doubt his Christian name right?) for pointing me in the direction of Wolfmother! Here in Purveyors Of Fiction vocalist/bassist Nick is (at times) almost the spitting mirror image (vocally) of Wolfmother founder/vocalist/guitarist Andrew Stockdale! It would have driven me crazy if not for this helpful hint so I tip my hat in appreciation and offer up a tall cold one to you, Mr. Master Exploder! Thanks!


http://purveyorsoffiction.bandcamp.com/

The Graviators-Motherload

Napalm Records
2014


Sweden's The Graviators, who first formed back in 2009 before releasing their first self-titled full-length release the same year, are another (newish) act that chooses to stretch the boundaries of modern day doom.On their upcoming new album "Motherload", which is the group's forth overall full-length album and first in two years (the last one being 2012's "Evil Deeds"), the band takes up the challenge of giving doom metal a proper once-over and, thanks to the addition of stoner rock and classic rock/seventies hard rock, they do a pretty fly job at it one must say! Fronted by one Niklas Sjöberg(also of Swedish stoner metal outfit NYMF) the band could best be described as a loose and easy Black Sabbath/Trouble hybrid attempting to spread their magical wings and fly away!  Aside from the questionable lyrical-content (more occult and witchcraft silliness) this band does it right with Martin Fairbanks (also of NYMF and ex-Clandestine) providing post-Tony Iommi leads and a HEAVY rhythm section of Johan Holm (bass) and Henrik Bergman (drums, formerly of High in Fungoid Void) drawing to mind not only Black Sabbath's famous bass & drum duo, but also the back-beat of the band Iron Man! Alongside great new material like "Leifs Last Breath / Dance of the Valkyrie", "Narrow Minded Bastards" and "Tigress of Siberia" (and that's just the opening part of this full-length release!) the band opted to include a special bonus in the form of of a re-recorded "Druid´s Ritual"! Originally released on the group's 2011 limited-edition split with Brutus it's a great way to close out album number four from this doom metal collective!  The Graviators have done well with "Motherload". Whether we're talking about HEAVY doom rockers like "Bed Of Bitches" and "Corpauthority", twisted and evil epic numbers like the 9 minute long "Eagles Rising" (dig the vox on this one!) or a track like "Lost Lord" (where the band inhales everything that early seventies psychedelic rock had to offer!) this is one album that should be on the radar of every doom metal and stoner rock fanatic! As the first The Graviators release that I've heard start to finish I must say that I was more then impressed! Another addition to my best of 2014 list, "Motherload" is already rocking my world and I will most certainly be looking to add a CD copy of this little gem to my personal collection as soon as it is released at the end of this month!

Sadgiqacea-False Prism

Candlelight Records
2013

Can a four-track release really be a full-length album? When you see that "True Darkness" is over 14 minutes long then I guess the answer is yes, a four-track release can be considered a full-length album! This four-track release is the work of  the two-man group Sadgiqacea. The band, which you would expect to reside somewhere south of hell but in reality reside in Philadelphia, play some of the most foul metal you could dare to imagine! Picture the blackest, most sludgiest, psychedelic doom noise act out there and then turn the whole thing upside down and inside out. That is the essence of Sadgiqacea who cut a nice and jagged path straight through your flesh and soul. Formed in 2010, with the ambient "False Prism" serving as their first full-length release, the group is made up of Evan Schaefer (vocals/guitar) and Fred Grabosky (vocals/drums). What about the bass guitar though? Sadgiqacea doesn't need it and (frankly speaking folks) it's not as though you're likely to miss out on it when this post-metal sludge-feast get's rolling along. When it comes to breaking down this nearly 40 minute-long avalanche of  blackened doom, which is most definitely a mood massacre waiting to happen, you're likely to find tiny pieces of poisoned metal that has been sharpened so it can deliver maximum carnage as only ambient material like this can. Some will likely call "False Prism" a divine work of post-metallic wonder while others would shutter at it's uneasy assault on the senses. I find that I'm falling somewhere in the middle of all of that, but the more I listen to this one (and I've been through the mirror with this one three times now) the more I feel inclined to embrace it's madness. It certainly grows on you with repeated listens folks. That's for sure.....

Brujas del Sol- Moonliner

Devouter Records
2013

And now for something completely different. Spaced-out, surf-infused, psychedelic drone anyone? Brujas del Sol are the sound of a band born out of improvisation and imagination. "Moonliner" doesn't really remind me of anyone or anything as it's like this crashing wave of fuzzy psychedelic garage rock wrecking glorious havoc on a collation of ambient, drone-loving hipsters while a bunch of old hippies have a sit in where "everyone  must get stoned!". Oddly weird and yet rather refreshing. This one must be heard to be appreciated and absorbed, but I can say/will say that this release, as odd as this sounds, sounds like home to me. And yes, I am looking for home these days so thank you "Moonliner" for providing a map.

Buy the album here:http://devouterrecords.bigcartel.com/