Montana

Hammers Of Misfortune, Overtaker (2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Rocky Mountain prog metal band Hammers of Misfortune are back with Overtaker.

Hammers of Misfortune started out in San Francisco more than twenty years ago. Back in the nineties, they operated as Unholy Cadavar before changing their name to the current, more familiar one. With six previous long-players under their belt (and the Unholy Cadaver album, too), They have made an indelible mark on progressive metal. The lineup for the Overtaker album includes John Cobbett (guitar, bass, Mellotron), Jamie Myers (vocals), Mike Scalzi (contributing vocals), Blake Anderson (drums, piano), Sigrid Sheie (Hammond B3), Frank Chin (contributing bass), and Steve Blanco: (synth), with a guest appearance by Tom Draper (Carcass, Spirit Adrift) on guitar.

It has been six years since the last record, so fans have been sweating this new for a while now. The title track kicks things off at a blistering pace as the band puts it all out there at once. “Dark Brennius” inveigles with the respite of its opening bars, but it is a dodge. Cataclysmic music follows, a ravaging lead break, and mystical passages that are like opening a door to gentle blue light in a dungeon of cacophony. I get the sense that I am being chased with this one all the way through. And then comes “Vipers Cross” which, if anything, is more chaotic than the first two songs. I am breathless but Hammers is filled with energy and keeps it going for twice again as much more.

The album fills your head with ideas and information at a pace right on the edge of what humans can reasonably be expected to take in. Any slowing down that occurs is brief, occurring in between flurries of furious activity. Fans of the band will be ready for this. Newcomers: prepare yourselves. Recommended.

Overtaker is out digitally on Friday, December 2nd. Stream or pick it up at Bandcamp, or wherever prog metal lives.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://hammersofmisfortune.bandcamp.com/album/overtaker

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/hammersofmisfortune

© Wayne Edwards

Hammers Of Misfortune, Overtaker (2022)

Wizzerd, Space‽: Issue No.000 (Fuzzorama 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Mountain stoner band Wizzerd throw down the fuzz on their third full-length album, Space‽: Issue No.000.

I don’t know what I have been doing with my life, but I didn’t hear anything from Wizzerd until the Ripple Music split Turned to Stone Chapter III: Wizzerd vs. Merlin. That one turned my head. Stoner mountain music is a real thing. I mean, I always think first of the desert when fuzztones ring, but this manner of music transcends all environments. Doomchild (2016) was the first, followed in 2019 by the self-titled album. And then there are a couple of demos and a string of EPs from Wizzerd circulating in the cosmos – a good chunk of music to make your way through on a journey you will never forget. The band is Jhalen Salazar (guitar, vocals), Jamie Yeats (guitar), Sam Moore (drums), and Layne Matkovich (bass).

The new record has eleven tasty tracks, beginning, appropriately, with “Launch,” which is a ramp of calamity to “Sisters of the Sun.” Listen to the opening bars of “Sisters” and you will know right away which island you have landed on. Happy-go-lucky transforms into a more serious-sounding hammering fuzztone that hangs on to the end, with dashes of guitar enthusiasm. Staying in space, “Supernova” continues the exploration on essentially the same plane. It does feel like the urgency has amped up on this one, and I love the dual guitaring. “Attack of the Gargantuan Moon Spiders” does not take place in space but might as well for the way it fits in with the early tracks. You can feel a down shift, and it is a good, rollicking gear. The psychedelica is kicking in hereabouts and once it gets its tendrils in you, there they stay.

What appeals most to me about this record is the incredible guitar work. The trippyness is fine thing, too, but I will always walk across the room and point at the guitars. There is a loose-form jamminess to many of the passages and those meld better with your psychic self in its altered state, but no alterations are actually necessary to enjoy the music. Watch out for “Space Chase” to give you an adrenaline injection, and “Doom Machine Smoke Break” for a nice hypothetical cool down that is actually a deep dive into the nature of things. This album definitely cooks. Recommended.

Space‽: Issue No.000 is out on Friday, September 30th through Swedish label Fuzzorama Records. In the US, Bandcamp is the easy place to pick it up (once it appears there – at this writing there is only a single showing up … patience).

Links.

Bandcamp, https://wizzerd.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/wizzerddoom

Fuzzorama Music, https://www.fuzzoramarecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Wizzerd, Space‽: Issue No.000 (Fuzzorama 2022)