SHORT REVIEWS Our twenty-second edition of Short Reviews for 2023 finds us picking through the first week of June’s new releases with moderate enthusiasm. I’ve done my best to showcase the most interesting works that I come across while still presenting some decent variety here but choices boil down to what sticks, what inspires or what is worth writing about. These are more easygoing than longform reviews, so relax and think for yourself — If you find something you dig go tell the band on social media and support them with a purchase! If you’d like your music reviewed, read the FAQ and send promos to: grizzlybutts@hotmail.com

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As I sat down to take a closer look at this British retro stylized proto-heavy metal/hard rock group’s discography after enjoying their previous two records to some degree I’d no doubt hit the same wall in terms of lyrics. I still cannot get past the devotional Christian focus of their message, though I don’t fault bandleader Colin Hendra for his strong convictions and beliefs. So, my notes don’t run much deeper than anything you’ve read/heard elsewhere in reference to Wytch Hazel‘s body of work over the years, they remain an exceptional talent which takes stock of of NWOBHM-era heavy rock, Wishbone Ash, 80’s Black Sabbath, Demon and late 70’s Thin Lizzy but presents it in a washed-out, dire tonality which rings of serious-faced pastoral energy. If you’ve no real qualms with the moderate indoctrination leveraged into these songs sans any camp or humor you’ll find some of their finest yet art direction and production values in terms of recreating a circa ’79 heavy rock feeling minus the blues-driven affect of that era. Though I’d found their songcraft was much stronger on ‘III: Pentecost‘ this time around I have to give praise to a more original, personalized set of songs which show some conscious effort to come into their own. In this way I’d fallen right into ‘IV: Sacrament‘ appreciating that I’d not spent the entire time thinking about and referencing better records from the not-so distant history of heavy rock.

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Brazilian black metal duo The Kryptik return with thier third full-length album and a bit of an 70-minute long opus after a nearly four year wait. Though their most recent mLP hinted at some deeper entrenched love of Swedish black metal melodicism this time around we feel an entirely cold wind of change ripping through these doubly long and ambitious atmospheric pieces, most of which feature prominent and celestially-set orchestrations whirling atop the mix. Though I’d have liked some breaks in the storming moonlight glow of it all for some bigger riffs there is no major downside to this point of focus since the keyboard work is entrancing enough for the full listen as it carries 10-12 minute pieces to glowing, surreal realms which aren’t too far removed from the mid-to-late 90’s Norwegian black metal style a la Odium, keeping that flame alive but using their own torch. If your reaction is not cynical in the face of modern day interpretations of the old mastery there is more than enough of a landscape to explore here on this massive double LP.

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Hemplifier is a more recently formed psychedelic stoner/doom metal band from Malta who focus on eternally simmering slow motion grooves per the early 2000’s school of Sleep. Things kinda witch up a bit o’ gloom when the vocals do finally kick in but they’re mostly horsing around rather than curating a serious moment, at least from my point of view. The effect of ‘The Stoner Side of the Doom‘ perhaps intends to be meditative but ends up feeling funereal, dirging along tunelessly for eight minute blocks of time with the occasionally bellowed sludge growl or spastic break in the rhythms and interestingly enough this does actually go somewhere: Near the middle of closer “Weedcraft” we get a legitimate early Cathedral-esque moment before the piece just kinda jogs out. I’m not dogging on their work in the slightest here but take a deep stare at that album cover, it ain’t supposed to be deep or profound, eh. A good time with potential for a great time with a bit more focus on songcraft.

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If you’re about my age you couldn’t have missed the print media push for Bongzilla by way of Relapse Records during sludge metal’s initial heyday from the mid-90’s through the early 2000’s but that doesn’t mean you’d necessarily have taken the plunge into their discography. Without a doubt most of it is samey, big honking sludge/doom metal grooves, songs about weed which feature frequent interruptions from samples (a la the grindcore of the era) and throatier vocals a fan of Grief or Buzz*ven would still appreciate. The big record from their initial four LP run is arguably ‘Stash‘ (1999) for my own taste, just because it speaks to an era of sludge I appreciated most when growing up but most folks know ’em from their last two records before taking a fifteen year hiatus. When these folks returned their new reality was more interested in jam sessions, or, even more freeform songs than they’d been dabbling with in the mid-2000’s and so far this has yielded two next-era full-lengths which center around the subject of home, Wisconsin, and their appreciation of the weed that grows there and gives ’em stories to tell. If you’re looking for classic Bongzilla, this record is absolutely it to the point that any extant nostalgia banging around in your head will be thoroughly activated. The raw and hissing vocals alongside big stoner rock/doom metal grooves still does it for me even if it isn’t anything new.

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Wolftower is a Finnish solo black metal project from musician Vyrtur, and exploration of classic sounds which does a fine job approximating the early 90’s black metal feeling by way of the Polish and (slightly later on) Finnish underground. Think maybe two or three albums deep into Graveland wherein the melodic signature had become clear as it would and then pass the torch to early Satanic Warmaster and you’ve gotten a good enough sense of raw sound, strong but primitive use of keyboards, and triumphal rhythmic melodicism. As with any release in this style it is a manner of fixation and tunneling through along with the artist, so, if the drums are a bit rough or the vocals buried consider that is part of the ancient ways charm on hand here. The artist has been extremely prolific thus far and I suppose I would offer that if their demos were a bit rough on the Wolfspell compilations released back in 2022 then this latest tape (released on in mid-December of last year) is at least particularly worthy of a more serious pressing for its consistency and sawed-at often melodic rhythms. On one hand this band provides is a solid look into the past, slightly updated, and on the other hand all of it is a bit plain and similarly stated throughout. Still, an enjoyable listen.

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Bone Potion is a Maryland-based psychedelic doom metal project from musician Dave Kezer who has themed his first three singles/EPs around mountains, their worship and the riffs they inspire. Breaking out of the jammed escalation of the previous single into a memorable, neatly formed doom metal meander the title track here has a bit of a Candlemass-esque saunter in its lead-driven steps while otherwise buzzing with growled vocals and cold-stamping verses for a stoner/sludge touch upon the piece. What’d appealed to me on their previous single still stands, the riffs take us there with a bit of a gloomed-over narrative and the lead guitar work carries the experience up to that cloud level and seamlessly into the second half, “Ancestral Magnetism”, just as well. The artist’s knack is clearly there in terms of the guitar work pulling serious weight and each of these songs are memorable and inspired so I’m left even more thrilled to see where they take this sound.

https://bonepotion.bandcamp.com/

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