September 19, 2012 by A.S. Van Dorston

The autumn avalanche of new releases reaches a peak this week with well over a dozen major releases. Aside from the album of the week, Ufomammut’s Oro: Opus Alter and a couple others, it’s a slew of indie rock albums, many by bands that have been around since the 90s indie heyday. It remains to be seen whether they’ll have a lasting impact or become indie landfill, but there’s definitely some good stuff.

Heat, Heat (Electric Magic)
Heat are a German stoner rock/proto-metal supergroup of sorts featuring Richard Behrens of Samsara Blues Experiment along with current and ex-members of Grandloom, Assassinations, Hara-Kee-Rees, Meatbeans & Ecke Schönhauser. Vocalist Patrick Fülling’s wailing is definitely reminiscent of early Ozzy, and to nice effect, while the band channels the likes of Jerusalem and other bluesy proto-metal favorites. My favorite song is the 15:42 album closer “Ending Aging,” which builds from a slow, bluesy groove to a free-for-all rifforama. A very promising debut from a band that folks would be an excellent opener for the likes of Orcus Chylde, Kadavar, Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell or Graveyard. This available on LP and no plans for CDs, but you can get lossless files on Bandcamp.

Seremonia, Seremonia (Svart)
Following in the footsteps of labelmates and fellow occult proto-metallers Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats and Jess and the Ancient Ones comes Seremonia. While they all share Sabbath as an influence, Seremonia distinguish themselves with a rough, garagey fuzzed-out psychedelic sound, along with influences from Latin psych, punk, obscure Finnish prog and lyrics in their native Finnish. Vocalist Noora Federley, with her glacier-cold delivery, is another great, eccentric entry into the canon of metal sirens. | Buy

Rival Sons, Head Down (Earache)
I went back and forth on my opinion of their first album, last year’s Pressure & Time. The Los Angeles band sounded closer to Black Crowes and The Black Keys than Graveyard as far as its approach to 70s music, but still way cooler than the Crowes. Head Down continues the worship of the likes of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and ZZ Top, and expands their repertoire, adding the likes of early Steve Miller Band, Free (“Run From Revelation”) and even some poppier 60s psychedelic elements (“Until The Sun Comes”). “Jordan” is mellow, yet an album highlight, sung by Jay Buchanan with slow-burning passion like Paul Rodgers at his early best. Even more impressive is the two part “Manifest Destiny” about the genocide of Native Americans, which also carries their trippiest arrangements. Retro rock for sure, but with done with such loving craft and talent that they deserve all the success of a Black Keys.

Dinosaur Jr., I Bet On Sky (Jagjaguwar)
Given Dinosaur Jr.’s tumultuous early history full of dysfunction and hatred between members, it’s a damn miracle that they reunited in the first place, let alone have now been together over six solid years since their reunion. Even more unlikely is the fact that the resulting albums, Beyond (2007) and Farm (2009) were so good that I found myself eagerly anticipating their newest one. I’ve really been hoping they’d revisit the mammoth, rifftastic heaviness of their classic You’re Living All Over Me (1987). The fact that they didn’t is more my issue more than anything, but I Bet On Sky is full of solid songs that are actually more laid back than the recent reunion albums, and more diverse, along the lines of Green Mind (1991), but with plenty of contributions from Lou Barlow.

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Meat And Bone (Boombox/Mom + Pop)
Talk about a 90’s flashback. I have fond memories of some of the best shows that decade by JSBX, but the luster of their albums have faded somewhat, even my favorites, Orange (1994) and Acme (1998). Their first album since Damage (2004), Meat And Bone revisits their super raw era of their debut and Crypt Style (1992), where they didn’t play songs as much as just shards of vamps and riffs stapled together into ugly little things that nevertheless got the job done in getting pretentious indie hipsters to shake their bony asses in a live setting. 20 years later, JSBX sound, if anything harder and rawer, with just enough memorable songs to make it well worth seeing them performed with their reliably great stage show.

The new releases never end. I had mixed feelings about Grizzly Bear’s last album, Veckatimest (2009), as the admirable craft didn’t save it from being a bit boring. From my first couple listens, Shields is just as dense, but with a bit more engaging songwriting. Expect dozens of gushing reviews in the next couple weeks. Menomena has also improved on their last outing, Mines (2010) on Moms. Reduced to a duo, Justin Harris and Danny Seim explore their relationships with their mothers with more energy than they’ve demonstrated in years. I never really got into Local H, a duo from Zion, Illinois who have been putting out albums since 1995. On Hallelujah! I’m A Bum, Scott Lucas deals with politics and how it currently divides people. They employed the renown production and mastering team of Sanford Parker and Collin Jordan, giving the album some real heft. I can’t click with everything on this ambitious 70 minute outing, but it’s well worth checking out. I’m not a huge fan of P!nk’s style of dance pop, but for what she does, it sounds like she’s progressed in the lyrical depth department, with some solid songwriting on The Truth About Love.

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for The Killers, who have always sounded like they were trying their hardest to sell their souls to the devil to become mega-stars, but never could suck enough to become a stadium touring machine, despite their audacious and/or shameless efforts to marry Depeche Mode to Bruce Springsteen. On Battle Born, however, the cracks are showing, and there’s some really soulless sounding duds there compared to their more consistently enjoyable Day & Age (2008). I think that means this could be their biggest seller yet, so maybe they’ll get their wish. I wasn’t even going to bother with James Iha’s Look To The Sky, but then I saw that it features guest appearances from Karen O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nathan Larson of Shudder To Think, and Tom Verlaine. I’m such a sucker. I had to force myself three times to go back and finish the album after taking palate-cleansing breaks, as what I heard totally blows. Noxious excrement! Harsh, right? Maybe I’m just burned out, I’m sure some James Iha fans might like it. I just hope the Yeah Yeah Yeahs don’t sound this listless on their next album.

Some may wonder where one of my most anticipated releases this fall is, Witchcraft’s Legend. It’s European release date is the 21st, and U.S. the 25th. Nuclear Blast apparently has withheld review copies from lowly independent review sites like The Obelisk, The Soda Shop and myself. I even pre-ordered a copy, which was supposed to ship on the 17th, but it hasn’t. They’re killin’ me! Hopefully I’ll have heard it in time for a feature review next Tuesday.

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