The Mothercrow – Foráneo

 

 

The Mothercrow – Foráneo
Discos Macarras Records / LaRubiaProducciones – 2024
Rock, Hard, Seventies, Blues
Rated: ****

Just two more days! The Foráneo album will be out on September 17th through Discos Macarras Records and it will be the second full-length album that Barcelona quartet The Mothercrow send out into the world. Founding members Karen Asensio and Max Eriksson are still part of the team that put out their first single Hard Attack back in 2016 and have Daniel Ribeiro bass and backing vocals for this album (Although since then Daniel left and Victor Sancho has joined in his stead) and on drums Jaume Darder. It’s a classic in every sense of the word! We’re talking all out blues based, seventies inspired hard rock. The good stuff. The stuff that takes you back to the golden age of rock ‘n roll. When guitars and amps ruled the entire world! And of course vocalist Karen Asensio is taking a lot of the spotlight, with her superpower voice and that spitting and raw edge to it, immediately there and in your face on the opening track. Lovely! Something to become besotted by. I bet she’s electric on stage. Or that bass work of second track Howling, rumbling, warbling and gunning the song on. There is simply no real way any music lover can become jaded, listening to The Mothercrow. This is hitting the sweet spot with every track as they roll on. This is that one shot that will send a wavering junkie back into the grips of his addiction. Even half tempo rocker changing into a ballad here and there Tumbling Down, breaks up the album perfectly, offering up so much succor and soul that your eyes will close and you can’t help but swaying along. So warm, slightly nostalgic and absolutely tragically romantic. So much so, that if you hadn’t already invested yourself entirely into the sound of Foráneo before, you will by then. (Doin’ It) For The Thrill will groove you out of your socks and that wild guitar work will flare your pants. Gonna Burn with its funky touch, summer time in the big city, watching how the people on the streets make their way to wherever where they need to be while you drink your dubious red wine and wait till the sun sets. Waiting for them Northern Lights. Closing out the album, perfectly composed, with instrumentation that is stunning and pristine. A bass shining, a guitar that glows and the drums that glisten, all there and taking their moments even though they leave all the room in the world for Karen Asensio to once again spin her tale with attitude, whirling movement and a squint in her eyes. And then to add that luscious key work courtesy of Julian Batista is putting the icing on the cake. Classic in every sense of the word…

(Written by JK)

List to the first single Howling here:



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Santo Rostro - Después No Habrá Nada

 

 

Santo Rostro - Después No Habrá Nada
Discos Macarras Records / LaRubiaProducciones / Spinda Records – 2023
Stoner, Sludge, Prog, Rock, Doom
Rated: *****

Today is the day! We were honored to premiere the opening track of this album back in February, but we were even more excited for the entire album. For the full Después No Habrá Nada album by the Santo Rostro three has been spinning ever since, for after hearing it, there could be nothing more after it… Sorry, had to make a weak pun about the translation of the album title. But it does have a lot of merit, and we shall in fact end this little write-up with it as well, for even though that sensational opening track Telarañas and following Carcasa Digital, who complement each other, will undoubtedly wow every part of your being with its psychedelic doom of the highest order and the lowest tones, the progressive sludge and the wild, whirl winding atmospheres. Third track Aire, truly winds its progressive, sludgy maelstrom sound all around you and when that middle eastern motif hits, you will lift off, you will fly, you will soar, you will see things that are below, behind and beyond. Mystical and almost transcendental, the almost six minutes of Aire will put you in a different state of mind, culminating in what feels like a supernatural merry go round gone berserk. It’s the perfect example of the nature of their psychedelic rock, a continuously spinning, almost polymorphing every sound into one another. Indeed, the three from Jaén, Spain are doing magic. Whether it’s the synth lines, careening with the guitars or the drums, prog jazz dancing towards a heavy explosion, before opening up and turning into a slow spacey doom hike on fourth track Matriz. In fact, that final part of that fourth track is the first part where the dervish circle dance slows down and the frenzy becomes this ecstatic sluggish salsa. Twelve-minute-long closing cathedral and title track Después No Habrá Nada brings you back to the center of your ecstasy, that centrifuge of meditation, to your reborn, reformation of self, where you will do away with personal desires, ego’s and worship nothing but Santo Rostro. Or heavy rock. Or psychedelic rock. Or love. But as you know, ‘All loves are a bridge to Divine love’, to the face of love, to Santo Rostro. And that is where you are at, in the middle of that closing track, dead center, as the guitar is barking, howling, dancing around you, taking it all to a devotional sole acoustic guitar, setting things up for a highly prog lead out, build up, that takes what they did with rhythms now to new sonically full heights, taking all that earthy and dizzying dance into a cosmic flight among… Everything… And once you’ve seen everything… There can be nothing more after…

(Written by JK)

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International Premiere - Santo Rostro – Telarañas

 

International Premiere - Santo Rostro – Telarañas

 

We’re honored to bring you the Premiere of the new Santo Rostro single Telarañas! The full album will be arriving through Discos Macarras, LaRubiaProducciones & Spinda Records on March 10^th and is called ‘Después no habrá nada’! And trust us! If you dig this single, you will be absolutely smitten with the album! This is psychedelic doom of the highest order and the lowest tones! Sludgy when needed and progressive when wanted! This is the good shit!

“Andalusian power trio returns with a dark-psych rock album, with long tracks including complex instrumental developments, processed atmospheres and a dirty sound plenty of echoes, different modulations and occasional synths.

Many things have changed in Santo Rostro since they put out 'The Healer' in 2017, and this is obviously reflected in this new album. 'Después no habrá nada' is the result of a more mature band, with thousands of kilometers touring both Spain and EU on their back, several TV appearances and a couple of stand-alone video-singles - and everything 100% DIY.

This way, we find ourselves with a more balanced and determined sound, with a tremendous solid and seamless rhythmic base, powerful and organic at the same time, with a dance of tempos that accelerate and slow down at the right time - there's no clapperboard in here.

In 'Después no habrá nada' you'll find from doom to sludge, with high doses of progressive metal and even Andalusian heavy psych. It could be understood as a great mix of bands such as Viaje a 800, Adrift, Oransi Pazuzu, Mastadon or Russian Circles, but with an imprint that only Santo Rostro has. This new album is a kind of a personal delirium and hangover; with some rehearsal room taste and accumulated fatigue.

The album was produced by the band itself; then recorded and mixed by Raúl Pérez at La Mina (Spain); and mastered by Mario G. Alberni at Kadifornia Mastering (Spain). Behind the artwork is The Braves Church, based on photographies by Manu Rosaleny.”

 

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'Después no habrá nada' comes out on 10th March 2023 through Discos Macarras, LaRubiaProducciones and Spinda Records in the following editions:

    Digital
    300x CD Digipack
    150x Black Vinyl
    150x Orange Translucent Vinyl

TRACK-LIST: 1. Telarañas / 2. Carcasa Digital / 3. Aire / 4. Matriz / 5. Después no habrá nada

 

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