Wall – Brick By Brick

 

 

Wall – Brick By Brick
APF Records – 2024
Rock, Metal, Sludge, Doom
Rated: ***

Desert Storm, The Grand Mal, two of the other outfits that have ben built brick by brick by brothers Ryan and Elliot Cole. And Wall, that’s the project they started during that weird pandemic period a while ago. Remember that? Wall, it’s the two brothers making whatever racket they want and doing that all in the sludge and doom regions. Well, they do get help by some additional noise / guitar / mellotron on three tracks, Falling from The Edge of Nowhere, Cirrhosis, Filthy Doner Kebab on a Gut Full of Lager by Jimmy Hetherington. And on one of the two covers, they get vocals done by Dave Oglesby from Mother Corona. Two covers indeed, Nineteen by Karma To Burn and Electric Funeral by Sabbath. Both were of course present on the first two EP’s, which are collected now, as a finished structured called Brick By Brick. Which would have featured ten song if it has just been the two EP’s. But the brothers added three new tracks, the earlier mentioned Cirrhosis and Filthy Kebab On A Gut Full Of Lager. But also Masking My Contempt. A two and half minute puncher that starts off with a snippet from the American Beauty movie. Damn cool if ya ask me. And you can ready what Kyle SB wrote about their earlier EP’s here: WALL / WALL VOL.2. Nice of the brothers to have built this little castle of sludge and doom, in their very own heavy and august taste.  

(Written by JK)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

Elefant Talk
Desert Storm
Dryad
Hex A.D.
JAAW
Waste A Saint
Wolfnaut
Parte de Nada
Eye of Aquila
Red Mess

This should have gone up yesterday. But as usual, life got in the way… The above list of bands and their respective albums have ben on heavy rotation over here. As well as quite a few others, cause we still cannot get enough of that Santo Rostro, Hail The Void, Acid King or the new ISAAK. And there are so many other albums about to be released that are equally stunning.. Incredible musical times we live in! It’s been spring time for heavy rock for a long time now, stoner, psych, prog and yes, the doom are all in bloom!

Desert Storm – Death Rattle

 

 

Desert Storm – Death Rattle
APF Records – 2023
Metal, Stoner, Sludge, Prog
Rated: ****

We’ve been mentioning Desert Storm ever since Forked Tongues and even going back to their debut and we reckon we mentioned most of their releases. We might even have mentioned most of everything that has something to do with the Cole brothers who are of course an integral part of the Desert Storm heaviness. You know, what them two did with Wall and The Grand Mal. But today we are jotting down some words about Death Rattle, their seventh album in fifteen years of Desert Storm. Fifteen years and they’ve taken their progressive sludge all over the world, and all over the place. Moving into more stoner territories for some tracks and more metal with black touches on others. Death Rattle, as the ominous title already alludes to, has overtones of the heavier and darker territories and only lighter touches and songs as the album starts. Master On None, uses some doom touches and stoner riffing, soloing and trucking to get its message across, with both gritty as well as melodic vocals. Second track Cheyne Stoking might be the most progressive ditty on the album, with the cleanest vocals and airiest compositions. There’s in fact a whole lot of space in between it all, giving it all something solemn and mysterious. With the following Bad Trip all the cogwheels fall into place and relentlessly grind the sludge metal riffs into the most concentrated mothersludging heaviness you can get. And then to think it starts out so melodic, with that guitar slowly creeping its gritty back alley essence into your own personal Cul de Sac. The raw guttural vocals quickly dispensing any hope of some good, indeed, Bad Trip. An ode to a friend they lost some ten years ago. After which they keep upping the amount of darkness they use to color the Death Rattle tracks. Druids Heath, still holding a sludgy prog touch, turns black and bleak quickly, only offering some form of respite of something delicate guitar work in the middle circle part, which still remains somewhat somber and with the smoked dark brown vocals, it never fully lets you recover from all the pressure the albums has been building. And that’s what Death Rattle in the end turns out to be, this majestic pressure cooker of riffs and furious drum work, that just builds and builds, only ever so often offering escape for a tiny bit of air, until that final ending, outro kind of track New Dawn. Which after so much tension and gravity, might actually give you goosebumps and will surely a wonderous feeling of elation, as if you have escaped the darkness and have found a way to carry on…

(Written by JK)

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For The Lost PR

Wall - Wall

 

 

Wall - Wall
APF Records - January 2021
Sludge, doom
Rated: ****

At this point, it's just a fact that the Cole twins are a prized possession of the UK heavy scene. First the long running standard-bearers Desert Storm, then the undeniable groove of 2019's The Grand Mal, and now yet another gift of heavy is granted in the form of Wall. A product of quarantine, the Coles' creative juices never stopped flowing, and they emerged as an instrumental duo laying down pummeling sludge and doom as only they can. The self-titled debut EP has all the best parts of the Cole sound, from the razor sharp, angular riffing to the sledgehammer drums, combined into a dark and relentless five tracks. Opener "Wrath of the Serpent" stomps forward with lumbering doom, each blast of distortion echoed by equally thunderous drums. The low and slow eventually takes a turn, shifting gears to a swirling, thrashy onslaught reminiscent of High on Fire, accompanied by lightning fast fills to dizzying effect. The trade-off between plod and adrenaline continues throughout the EP, and is showcased again in the seamless transitions between the somber noise and winding stoner guitars of "Sonic Mass". "Obsidian" brings the slogging doom in an unstoppable march of drums and grumbling bass, while "Legion" chugs forward before diving into an avalanche of tumbling riffs. To top it all off is the closing cover of Sabbath's "Electric Funeral", a devoted rendition with Dave-O, of The Grand Mal and Mother Corona, doing Ozzy justice with his top notch sneer. The heavy underground has been blessed with another creation from the Coles, and Wall's bludgeoning power will leave battered ears asking for more.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Albums Last Week…

Celestial Season
Ancient of Days
Kadavar
Redeye Caravan
Desert Storm
Vitskär Süden
Torito
Qilin
The Absurd
HombreHumano

Desert Storm - Omens

Desert Storm - Omens

APF Records / Purple Sage PR - April 2020

Sludge, stoner, progressive, doom

Rated: ****

Since 2008's self-titled LP, Desert Storm have been a national treasure of the UK heavy scene with their thunderous mix of sludge, stoner, and southern rock, and their sixth effort Omens sees them firing on all creative cylinders. Following 2018's crushing "Sentinels", Omens adds even more layers of atmosphere and progressive technicality, and succeeds in the impressive task of balancing raw, touching emotion with unrelenting heaviness. The titular spoken word intro sets the scene with eerie rhymes and occult vibes, and then the gates are blown open with the massive, roiling riffs and venomous bellows of "Black Bile". The low end divebombs in Torche fashion between the twin guitar attack's jarring grooves, all grounded by pulverizing drumwork. It's no small feat to compete with this wall of sound, but the agile vocals prove more than up to the task, taking charge with a wide range of growls, melodic cleans, and sludgy roars that add an emotional weight and element of storytelling to take the music's impact to another level. This is most apparent on following track "Vengeful Gods", a tale of struggle against an ancient evil told over pummeling riffage and atmospheric keys that make the threat feel all too real. The expertly crafted songwriting is maintained throughout the rest of Omens, with passages of slower, haunting melancholy peppered in to offset the band's earth-shaking assault. Desert Storm are at the top of their game on Omens, a powerfully affecting record that sees them continuing to evolve and experiment even after twelve years, to devastating results.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Stoner HiVe's Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Stoner HiVe's
Top 10 artists listened to last month...

Dandy Brown
The Good Hand
Birth Of Joy
Blackwater Holylight
Shields
Drive By Wire
Desert Storm
Black Rainbows
The Sword
Earthless

(I know, a few days late again. But we were ill and on route once again. We've are back now, but still ill... Damn flu!)

Stoner HiVe’s Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Stoner HiVe’s

Top 5 artists listened to last week…

Dandy Brown

The Good Hand

Desert Storm

Drive By Wire

Blackwater Holylight

It’s evening already over here. But we still wanted to quickly put up the Top 5 Most Listened to albums of the past week. Two are still there, so let’s name them first!  Most of our time still went out to Dandy Brown and his majestic new album Scattered Days. Out soon on Taxi Driver Records the maestro we know from Hermano and the awesome Orquesta Del Desierto, (the last, of which Dos was remastered and re-released last year via Spin On Black), gives us nine tracks that meander through many heavy scenes and all have a marvelous lingering aftertaste. It will put you in a righteous mood! As we already stated last week, we love The Good Hand… And perhaps a bit too much! Their super deluxe limited diehard fan release of their earlier album Atman via Minstrel Music is majestic and definitely one of my favorite vinyl treasures. And we can’t wait to get our hands on the new ‘blue velvet’ edition vinyl coming our way! The new record is called Blissful Yearning, once again impressive and bordering on perfection. The new Desert Storm album Sentinels, out on APF Records, is one hell of a sludge and stoner metal homerun. And will not only ring on through the heavy underground, every metal fan will dig it! What a ride! As is Spellbound, the new album by Drive By Wire. On a completely different playing field the bluesy, psychedelic and sunny sound of Spellbound, out on Argonauta Records, brings forth all the goodness one needs from everything stonerrock with a dusty feel. Put on Spellbound and winter will definitely run away! And finally, Blackwater Holylight, the all-female outfit, releases their first effort through Riding Easy Records. A wild, heavy, fuzzy, psychedelic record that will make you dream of witches and will make your dreams bewitched. Impressive debut for sure! So… You should check it out! Check’m  all out!

Desert Storm – Omniscient

Desert Storm – Omniscient

Blindsight Records/Secret Law Records – 2015

Rock, Sludge, Doom, Blues, Metal, Stoner

Rated: ****

We’ve been writing about this stoner sludge hurricane since their Forked Tongues album from 2010 and we then revisited their 2008 self-titled demo. We went ape shit about their 2013 album Horizontal Life and ofcourse loved the split they did with Komatsu called Nomen Est Omen. And at the end of January this year the UK quintet Desert Storm released their newest effort entitled: Omniscient. We hold our breath, not because we are worried they won’t deliver, but because we are giddy with anticipation and hope we will love this as much as all that came before. Omniscient, ever present and all knowing. On which they’re turning into the sludge monster they know they have always been. Slowly all the influences they were sporting on their other albums are dissipating, or so we are lead to believe. What rises and holds fast is the sludgy stoner rock and metal that can easily hold a candle to the best of Crowbar and Down. And ofcourse the guys have to do it again, make a flag post of a stand out track in the middle of the record. This time around it’s an acoustic song called Home. Displaying once again that the vocalist could do so much more with his voice than just the aggressive howls we heard so far. And after Home dies away; the breeze picks up and, there they are, a myriad of influences can be heard, making the aggressive nature of the first four tracks disappear with more laidback grooves and sunny rhythms. Returning to an all levelling sludge landslide with the closing track Collapse Of The Bison Lung. And then we can breathe again…

(Written by JK)

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Komatsu / Desert Storm - Nomen Est Omen

Komatsu – July

In a few hours the Eindhoven stoner armada Komatsu will play a hometown show at Speedfest; the annual houseparty hosted by none other then Peter Pan Speedrock. And there they will proudly present a new ten inch split they recorded with their UK buddies Desert Storm. On this EP entitled Nomen Est Omen the Komatsu freaks deliver two hard headed punches. One of them being the new track Cast Away the other being the cover of the Slo Burn song July. And what better way to celebrate that fact than to perform that very song with the man responsible for the lyrics and self proclaimed fan of that machinating stonerforce that is Komatsu… 

John Garcia…

Desert Storm – Horizontal Life

Desert Storm – Horizontal Life

Self released – 2013

Rock, Southern, Blues, Metal, Stoner, Sludge

Rated: ****

Moving ever forward and ever further down south the Oxford, England five-some Desert Storm delivered yet another piece of gripping metal a few months ago with their third release Horizontal Life. It reeks of alcohol soaked nights and highly violent gutter fights. They retained their badass biker blues groove and added even more swamp, mire and bayou rocking. And as we proceed down the tracks they get louder, bigger and nastier. To the point where the six-minute strong Enslaved In The Icy Tundra has you stomping along on a massive Jurassic rhythm. What a midpoint to a record! After which Lunar Domes serves as a sort of intense pointy breaker to make sure you let the absolute smashing and warped eleven-minute Titan wash over you and engulf you with it’s psychedelic heaviness and groove metal extravaganza. Desert Storm produced a stoner record for the wasted ghettos of a skyscraper city on the verge of collapse. See those wrecking balls a swinging!

(Written by JK)

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Desert Storm – Desert Storm

Desert Storm – Desert Storm
Self released – 2008
Rock, Stoner, Metal, Blues, Southern
Waardering: ****

After only one year of jamming together the British outfit Desert Storm started recording their first self-titled album. A few of those songs got spiced up for their 2010 record Forked Tongues. For the most part however this 2008 album sounds like groove metal for the biker community. It’s high fire testosterone and a liquor spiced full throttle groove. It’s psychedelic gutter blues with just the right amount of madness to make your head pop and bop. It has that eerie quality of making sense without being vocal about it. And the singer is even more roaring like a speeding bike or on the rare calm moments of weirdness like a crazy demon who lost his tail… Aah yes, this might even be outlandish ‘o natural, personified…

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Desert Storm – Forked Tongues

Desert Storm – Forked Tongues
Self released – 2010
Rock, Stoner, Metal, Blues, Southern
Waardering: ***

There are many bands and outfits operating under this name but in this case we are referring to the British stoner formation called Desert Storm. The five freaks formed up around 2007 and rock out like a bastard son of Down and Clutch, taking queues from Kyuss and some southern and blues influences from the likes of Black Crowes on their full-sized album Forked Tongues. But for the most part you are served a tasty dish of groove metal spiced up with some serious stoner. With hefty vocals and ditto massive riffs we truck along through dirty swampy territory. We got some precious subtle moments and a lot of bad ass metal ruckus, in part due to the guttural vocals. The only small hindrance, are the drums which are a bit thin on the production side of things on several occasions. But with great tracks, which boasts all kinds of different vocal styles by the same singer, like The Jackal you can never go wrong…

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