Witchskull-Promo CD

Self-Release/Independent
2015



Based in Cambria, Australia, Witchskull is a heavy stoner/doom metal band that was formed in 2014 by vocalist/guitarist Marcus De Pasquale (Looking Glass) and drummer Joel Green (Wardom, ex-Armoured Angel, ex-Under Oath). The very definition of a power trio, Witch Skull was put together with the sole purpose of creating a blues-based doom outfit. To that end, Marcus De Pasquale and Joel Green recruited  bass guitarist Tony McMahon before hitting the studio with Jason Fuller in order to record their full-length debut. In addition to the album's solid title track, "The Vast Electronic Dark", this limited-edition promo CD features a rough doom slammer called "Temple of Ly's" and the epic track "Harvest the Druid". With a run-time of over six minutes, "Harvest the Druid" alone is easily worth the price of admission and that has everything to do with it's sick mash-up of Black Sabbath-like seventies doom and what sounds like N.W.O.B.H.M.-influenced proto-metal! That being said, "Temple of Ly's" ends up coming in at a close second thanks to it's perfect one-one combination of Motörhead and bands like Black Sabbath, Trouble, Witchfinder General and Pentagram. Now, seeing as I like to give credit where credit it due I have a confession to make. I actually have Paul Rote to thank for this highly-recommend 3-track teaser CD as Witchskull is another one of his wicked cool recommendations! Paul was spot-on when he had this to say about Witchskull, "Sounds like the eighties band Piledriver mixed with a touch of Witchfinder General", and that sentence was all it took for me to want to hear this trio for myself! I ended up buying the Witchskull promo CD & patch combo from this link and man was I ever happy that I did! My next purchase will be a t-shirt as I want to be able to represent this band all the way over here in the U.S.! To see what all the fuss is about just head here. But first a word of warning. Let's not mince words here. Witchskull's music is very addicting. You should know that ahead of time. Even though this trio's sound is blues-based and rock-ready there's something else going on with Witchskull's metal side that makes it almost impossible to put down! I wanted to hear more from this Australia band, but now I'm forced to sweat it out while I wait! Seeing as this sampler is really nothing more than a naughty tease to get your heart pumping chances are you'll end up feeling the same way! So just a head's up friends...

Rockstar Frame-Rock 'n' Roll Mafia

Musicarchy Media
2015

Every bit as hotblooded and a hundred plus times as sexy as it's artwork suggests, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is the soon to be released (to great fanfare and widespread joy no doubt!) debut LP from Rockstar Frame. It was not even a week ago (last Wednesday to be precise) that I first introduced you to this hot new hard & heavy rock band and their even hotter single, "She's Hot". That pulse-raising piece of rebel rock was just phase one of this band's plan for world conquest. Now this Milan five piece is back in black and ready to finish the war that they started with "She's Hot" and I for one welcome our new conquers with open arms and raised first! To paraphrase The Ramones "I'm all revved up and ready to go" and I've got this band's first studio release all but CRANKED up as loud as if can be in the background so that every living soul can experience the next evolutionary & revolutionary leap in female-fronted hard rock for themselves! Or at least all the living souls in my little corner of the world as they are the ones getting rocked and rolled all over by what some people have been calling the "New Guns N Roses with killer female vocals"! That's not entirely unfair as Rockstar Frame do strike a similar pose to Axl Rose and company. Well, later day Axl Rose and his pals (as in G 'N R "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II") as this Italian hard rock band also likes to utilize the winning combo that is screaming guitars and flashy keys! Still, Axl Rose comes across old and cranky when compared to Rockstar Frame's sultry lead singer Faith Blurry! A killer artist all her own, Faith has a set of pipes on her that can't be beat and her range is quite impressive (to say the least). There's a red hot fire burning deep down inside her that keeps the music of Rockstar Frame blazing! Faith Blurry could easily strike gold on her own as a singer so having someone this talented behind the mic gives this hard rock/heavy metal even more bite! There's also enough attitude in feisty front-lady Faith Blurry alone to make the Misfits' number "Attitude" sound like a silly love song! In other words she is the perfect weapon for these smooth criminals! But, let's take a step or two back as "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is actual the end of a journey that was first started back in 2012 by founding member and drummer extraordinaire Max Klein. At it's core,  Rockstar Frame is very much a tale of how one man's unfortunate accident would transform the lives of many in a truly healthy and positive way! The story begins with Rockstar Frame's Max Klein taking a nasty tumble down a cliff. That bit of misfortune left Max in a coma. While his loving and supportive family stayed by his bedside they played him rock music. As he lay unconscious Max soaked up all the good vibes that the music had to offer and when he eventually woke up he found that he was now inspired to create great music of his own! To that end the talented Max went out and recruited equally skilled musicians and with one thing leading to another we now find ourselves staring down the barrel of a gun named Rockstar Frame! That might be oversimplifying the whole history of this female-fronted heavy rock/hard rock band a wee bit, but just as Max believes that it was the rock music that his family played for him that helped to bring to him back around to the waking world I have to believe that it was more than just mere coincidence that these five musicians found each other. The music of "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" suggests as much as this kind of band chemistry doesn't pop up everyday! As for the other key players involved? They would be guitarist Morris Steel, bass guitarist Andy Di Bella and keyboardist Ace Wave. Collectively these five good friends have turned a simple vision into a spectacular reality where eighties hard rock, blues rock and sleazy/pop metal are smoothed over by the sounds of heavy rock radio. It's a place where this band's colorful influences (from Guns 'N Roses to Aerosmith) are touched up and turned inside out in order to give all the dearly faithful something fun and catchy to scream and shout about! With it's electrifying material, "Rock 'n' Roll Mafia" is primal rock and roll from a one-time-in-a-million/billion hard and heavy act. Needless to say you are going to want this one for your own collection friends!

Witch Mountain-Mobile of Angels

Svart Records
2014

Other then a brief break in the action in 2002 (and the fact that it took 10 years to get from the group's 2001 debut album, "Come To The Mountain", and it's follow-up, 2011's (Metal Mark-reviewed) "South of Salem") Portland's Witch Mountain has maintained it's presence in the doom metal community. Since 2009 the band has been fronted by Uta Plotkin (Aranya, Olympus Mons and Stalking Jane) and on "Mobile of Angels" (the band's fourth full-length album overall) it sounds as if time has done nothing but enhance this Oregon outfit and their post-Sabbath/Pentagram take on the genre! Here on "Mobile of Angels" guitarist/former lead singer Rob Wrong flat-out levels the playing field with his solid 70's hard rock-inspired playing while the rhythm section of Charles Thomas (Blackwitch Pudding) and Nathan Carson (bass and drums respectively) keeps the ship nice and steady with it's put up or shut up presence! As lead singer Uta Plotkin easily enchants with her with her dark persona the rest of Witch Mountain (sounding as rich and rigid as ever while arguably presenting the darkest, must dreary and downright damned release of their long and varied career!) hold all the cards tight in their hands as they deal out track after track of monster-sized dark metal! This 38 minute doom coaster is epic in scope and thanks to the help of producer Billy Anderson Witch Mountain has an album that should stand the test of time and remain more then a little relevant for decades to come!