“I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig” reasoned George Bernard Shaw. “You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.” True to form, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have left the wiser of us aware that they are no band to be messed with. In the seven years since this band’s inception, the powerful primal charge at their heart has been amplified far beyond the realms of their original imagination. What’s more, no one has been more taken aback by this transformation than the band themselves.

The Wizards come from Bilbao in Spain. They were originally formed in the spring of 2013. After having recorded a four-track demo the band started gigging for earnest in February 2014. Since then The Wizards have released two studio albums and toured mainly in Spain but also in France, Portugal and Germany. Rise Of The Serpent is the band's third album. The band's slogan is "Occult Heavy Metal Warriors", what's that supposed to mean and how would The Wizards describe their overall musical style? "What we play is a totally unconscious mix of styles we all share and like. There definitely is a strong and obvious heavy metal background in our music, but if you scratch the surface you will also find some 1970s hard rock, a piece of the doomy element and even some punk.

Two weeks ago, German heavy psychedelic rockers Samsara Blues Experiment announced they would be going on indefinite hiatus. Fair enough. 2020 makes it a decade since the band made their full-length debut with the jammy fluidity of Long-Distance Trip, a record that in no small part would define listener expectation from them even as they went on almost immediately to more progressive work. They’d already toured the US by then, hitting the West Coast in 2009 on the heels of their demo (discussed here, review here), and though they wouldn’t North American shores apart from two more shows in 2015, the years since they stopped through have not lacked adventure.

Funky Queen, the 2017 debut EP by rock newcomers Black Mirrors melted speakers everywhere: and yet the Belgian fourpiece was simply warming up for bigger things to come. Look Into The Black Mirror is a prime example of all the wonderful stuff that can happen when you sell your soul to snotty garage rock, blues, psychedelia and stoner rock! The beautifully unchained Marcella Di Troia sings, screams, croons and whispers on otherworldy ballads like ‘‘Moonstone‘ and over the danceable grooves of ‘Lay My Burden Down‘ – and the band keeps the hypnotic beats and thunderous riff walls coming. The Belgian crew succeeds at crisp Josh Homme-style stompers like ‘Günther Kimmich‘ as easily as they pull off a monolithic jam like album closer ‘Burning Warriors‘. These guys and gal will be HUGE!

Bon Jovi had perfected a formula for hard pop/rock by the time of New Jersey, concentrating on singalong choruses sung over and over again, frequently by a rough, extensively overdubbed chorus, producing an effect not unlike what these songs sounded like in the arenas and stadiums where they were most often heard…

The Flying Eyes - Lowlands (2013) {Noisolution 101-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 316 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
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© 2013 Noisolution Records | 101-2
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Stoner Rock / Blues Rock

Gradually rising to the forefront of the current heavy psychedelic/stoner scene, Baltimore-based act, The Flying Eyes have just dropped their second full length. More expansive and heavier than the debut, Lowlands sinks the listener deeper into the band's universe. Offering a wide range of sounds derived from several late '60s and early '70s influences, the record can be found at a crossroad between the acid induced psychedelic blues reminiscent of The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Cream, along with some Southern rock and, inevitably, traditional Black Sabbath doom riffs. Nevertheless, the chemistry between the band members, resulting in such catchy music and the will to experiment with the sound rather than recycling it, is what sets this above the multitude of average records.

Amplification moves air and gestures to the celestial. A splitter van parks in a service station. The afterglow of the stage. The weight of a bass cab up a steep flight of metal stairs. Hey Colossus are no strangers to the dualities of life as a loud rock band. But more importantly, they know how to channel both facets into records that transcend all limitations in a blinding volley of incandescence.

72Blues (aka 72 Blues), is a Detroit, MI, USA based delta-electro rock n' blues band, paying homage to the great blues artists of the early 20th century. The band celebrates 'tradition' and 'authenticity' with their roots firmly planted in American heritage but saturate their blues with a stinging-sweat style of attitude and delivery, making the 72Blues sound - all their own. 72Blues deliver a blend of down south and signifying honky rawkin-blues; celebratin' old time traditional music, swing blues, delta blues, rock blues and nail it to the cross with original and contemporary sensibility. This mob of musicians hen peck and scuffle a devilish blend of country-blues, swamp-blues, gospel rhythms, cotton field chants, gospel-blues and prison-blues. Devil music meets Divine intervention you might say! 72Blues arrived with their highly acclaimed debut CD release 'Said I Would' of 2005, with 11 wickedly raw tracks streamed together seamlessly rejoicing in a 70 minute sinner's sermon. Followed by their sizzlin' 2006 single 'She Like The Fux, Like Electrolux' recorded in Melbourne, Australia and their latest 'Detroit Border City' EP recorded with legendary producer Jim Diamond of 'Ghetto Recorders Studio' in Detroit, Michigan'

Going by the enigmatic code name 35007 ("loose" spelled upside down), Dutch musicians Mark Sponselee (guitar, bass, drums, synths, effects), Bertus Fridael (guitar), Michel Boekhoudt (bass), and Sander Evers (drums) perform ambient trance-groove music of a predominantly instrumental design. Secretive by nature, the group rarely performs live, and when it does, it's usually with the help of a visual specialist to provide a truly multimedia and multi-sensory experience. Both their 1994 debut, Especially for You, and its 1997 follow-up, 35007, interspersed occasional vocal tracks amidst the prevalent instrumentals, but even these were summarily abandoned on subsequent releases like 2001's Sea of Tranquility EP and 2002's full-length Liquid. The band likes to keep things as secretly as posible and that's why they are rarely seen live, but when they do they always have image projections and visual effets to accompany their sound.

Flashback to 2002, when Ipecac Recordings released a Melvins studio album called Hostile Ambient Takeover. The following year, they issued a series of 7" singles with the A-side from that record, but the B-side was an exclusive track of the Melvins take on various cover songs. Since then, people have wondered, "Yo Goober, is there gonna be a follow up LP with the B-'s?" It only took 17 years to answer that question, but yes, yes there is & it's called Hostile Ambient Besides.