Tag Archives: the sonic sofa

Blue Heron set to release debut album, Ephemeral

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Ephemeral will be released on May 27th

Blue Heron is a four-piece desert rock band from Albuquerque, NM. Their debut album, Ephemeral, will be released in late May. The group deals out a psychedelic mix of grungy heavy metal, with strong desert rock vibes and rhythms.

Ephemeral, featuring beautiful artwork by Mirko Gastow, is set for a May 27th release. The eight track album clocks in at a very listenable 47 minutes. It’s heavy from start to finish, with the exception of a few quiet interlude tracks that give short breathers between headbanging and breakdowns.

1. Futurola 5:22
2. Sayonara 13:20
3. Push the Sky 4:39
4. Infiniton Field 2:20
5. The Buck 6:19
6. Black Blood of the Earth 7:14
7. Where One Went Together 2:02
8. Salvage 5:53

Futurola music video by Dedisuseno

There’s plenty of driving, desert rock guitar, like on opener, Futurola, and even some High on Fire flavored riffage, like on Black Blood of the Earth, which also features a heavy, Sabbath-worship ending. Keep your ear out for plenty of spacy guitar solos, especially on the epic, 13 minute track, Sayonara, and even some reflective acoustic work on interlude track, Infiniton Field. Fans of Kal-El and Dozer will aprove.

The bass is impressive, with a full, in your face sound. It creates a solid, rhythmic counterpart for the drums, often taking the lead when the guitars are spacing out. Fans of Kyuss and Clutch will appreciate the complexity and driving rhythm. Check out Sayonara and The Buck for excellent examples of the growly bass tones and competent leads.

The drums are solid and driving throughout, featuring bluesy patterns and plenty of heavy breakdowns. There’s plenty of tasty tom work and cymbal accents, notable on Push the Sky, and a crisp sound shines through on closer, Salvage. Black Blood of the Earth has a definite stoner metal drumming sound, which fans of High on Fire and The Sword will appreciate, and don’t miss the shuffle pattern for the heavy blues ending.

The vocals are unique and diverse. Most of the album features melodic vocals with a throaty, aggressive delivery. Several of the tracks, including Sayonara and Push the Sky, have some edgy hardcore vocals at the end. Fans of John Garcia, Neil Fallon, and Matt Pike won’t be disappointed. Lyrical content ranges from mortality and the fleeting nature of existence to mythic fables about deposed gods and failed civilizations.

The album will be released by Kosmik Artifactz and Seeing Red Records. You can find the band on social media. Pre-order the digital album on Bandcamp for $6 or vinyl for $25, with supplies shipping on May 30th. Check out the merch page for bundle deals on their album and Black Blood of the Earth/A Sunken Place EP from 2021. Also, check out the music videos for Futurola and Push the Sky. Definitely keep an ear out for more from Blue Heron.

The Singularity: New album by Wo Fat

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The Singularity was released on May 6, 2022

Wo Fat’s brand of heavy blues is guaranteed to blow your mind with their progressive style and spacy jam sessions. They set themselves apart from typical bands of the genre with their unique blend of groovy Texas stoner rock. Now, the power trio from Dallas is back with The Singularity, their seventh studio album, released through Ripple Music.

The band’s first full length studio album in five years, The Singularity is a worthy follow-up to 2016’s Midnight Cometh. It features gnarly cover art by Eli Quinn and is composed of seven tracks, clocking in at a beefy 75 minutes. Like the structure of most of their past work, the tracks are more like two songs in one. They usually open with a heavy, blues-based stoner rock song, before proceeding to melt faces with dynamic, progressive jams for the last half, with tons of heavy changeups, melodic sci-fi lyrics, fluid drum work, jazzy infusions, stoner rock turnarounds, and soaring guitar solos.

1. Orphans of the Singe 13:54
2. The Snows of Banquo IV 8:25
3. Overworlder 11:54
4. The Unraveling 7:42
5. The Witching Chamber 9:25
6. The Singularity 7:46
7. The Oracle 16:32

Personnel (Left to Right): Zack Busby (Bass), Michael Walter (Drums), Kent Stump (Guitar/Vox)

From start to finish, the album is an absolute head banger. Kent Stump provides muscular guitar riffs and, like Tim Sult of Clutch, knows his way around a wah-pedal. His heavy blues and progressive style at times remind me of Droids Attack, or possibly even early Galactic Cowboys. Stump’s vocals are aggressive and melodic, with occasional harmonies. On bass, Zack Busby keeps things solid with a beefy bass tone that is perfectly locked on to the drum work, while creating an incredibly perceptive compliment to the guitar riffs, and like Geezer Butler, isn’t afraid to explore the fretboard. Michael Walter provides a huge, driving drum sound with a fluid complexity that dances between time signatures and explores every aspect of the riff.

You can find all of Wo Fat’s releases, including splits and live albums, on Bandcamp. Their entire discography is available for digital download for under $54. The Singularity is available on CD and digital download for $10. The album is also available on color-splat or black double vinyl, though copies are sold out as of this writing. Check out their merch page for tons of cool t-shirts as well as copies of back albums.

Dhidalah takes us back to space with new album, Sensoria 認識

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Sensoria was released on April 22, 2022

Dhidalah is a space rock power trio from Tokyo, Japan. Well schooled in the concept of sonic space travel, their jam oriented music has been taking us to the outer realms of psychedelic rock since 2013. The band released several independent recordings and EPs before signing with Guruguru Brain. Since then, they’ve released full lengths No Water in 2017 and Threshold in 2019. Their latest release, Sensoria, was released online in April, with vinyl pre-orders shipping this fall.

Sensoria is a four track album, clocking in at a modest 38 minutes. To create new material, the band members explore ideas during weekly jam sessions, which they then contemplate upon and hone throughout the week for the next session. Two tracks from the album, Soma and Black Shrine, were created through these sessions, while the other two tracks, Invader Summer and DEAD, are credited to guitarist Ikuma Kawabe, of Church of Misery fame. The tracks were recorded and mastered by Ryuhi Inari of Void)))Lab and mixed by Hideki Urawa. The album features cover artwork by D.Norsen.

1. Soma 9:07
2. Invader Summer 6:00
3. DEAD 3:03
4. Black Shrine 20:01

Dhidalah is Ikuma Kawabe (guitars), Kazuhira Gotoh (bass, vocals, noise FX), and Masahito Goda (drums)

The short full length packs a hard psychedelic punch that sounds both raw and organic, but with the seasoned tightness of a touring jam band. You’ll want to wear headphones to absorb the full mind-warping impact of the sonic trip. Listen for phaser and wah-pedal infused layers of guitars throughout, notable on Soma and Invader Summer. The fast pace of many of their tracks reminds me of King Gizzard’s jammiest stuff. A tight and tonal drum sound lays down a solid base groove throughout the album, and listen for some creative hand percussion interplay with the acoustic guitar on the slower and quieter, DEAD. Black Shrine, the incredible 20 minute closer, inspired by the Yokai of Japanese folklore (I fully support following this link and tripping out on these entities while you listen), features a meaty bass tone, possibly reminiscent of OM’s phased out drum sound. Melodic vocals, sparse and drenched in otherworldly reverb and delay, as well as sci-fi noise FX, add to the spacy atmosphere of the album.

You can find the digital album for under $8 on Bandcamp, where you can also preorder the vinyl for under $30. Keep in mind, records will not ship until August outside of the US, and until September for the US. Also, check out the band’s social media where you can find t-shirts, tote bags, and other merch.

Tour Dates

May 19 Sebright Arms – London, UK

May 20 The Crofters Rights – Bristol, UK

May 22 Hare and Hounds – Birmingham, UK

May 23 The Hope and Ruin – Brighton, UK

May 24 Supersonic – Paris, France

May 25 Trefpunt Concertzaal – Ghent, Belgium

May 26 Arena Berlin – Berlin, Germany

May 26 Ilses Erika – Leipzig, Germany