Machinefabriek - Attention, The Doors Are Closing! (2014)

People know me as someone who doesn't care for nationality, oddly enough I received an email from Rutger Zuydervel on the same day that I watched Alex Van Warmerdam's "Borgman". Machinefabriek is known for the idea of 'films without image'; that is in this case a score originally written for an avant-garde dance piece of the same name by choreographer Iván Pérez. So, in other words, listening to the record is analogous with that of listening to an opera -- it initially lacks what in psychoanalysis Lacan called the Other. The Other here is the spectacle, the performance. It is relatively a gracious point to reach, as the listener, since one can construct this vanished point of reference for himself. And to be tactless, I can affirm Machinefabriek's usually abstract audial imagery enables almost every sort of listener to do this job unconsciously.

Queen Elephantine - Scarab (2013)

I've always been extra-busy, and this year wasn't anything different, so, I'd like to apologize from all the bands who have sent me review requests, including Queen Elephantine, the fabulous space rockers, who, being unaware of the fact that I've been a fan of their music for quite a long time, sent me an email about a year ago. Their most recent album, "Scarab", is also a terribly underrated one, probably because the stoner scene is more interested in horseshit like Kvelertak. In any case, if you're into the ritualistic drone and psychedelia of Expo '70, Harvestman, Bong, and Ginnungagap or the minimalist music of La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Popol Vuh, and everything in between, you're gonna adore Queen Elephantine.

They've slowly moved away from the drone doom conventions, and "Scarab" marks the pinnacle of their deviations, where the songs don't tend to follow a groove but an idea, precisely what makes the record a great example of experimental rock/metal as well. Yet to me it seems that there're more walls of limits left to be broken, and I believe if they can accept the fact that there won't be any difference in the level of attention they'll get if they break those as well, they'll make one of the most perfect avant rockers of the decade.

Whores - Ruiner (2011)

Sharp-edged riffs, sudden tempo shifts, and even the font of Whores' logo all remind me of noise rock veterans Helmet. They melt the noise rock of Unsane with Fu Manchu's fuzz, and put some Buzzov•en-type sludge on top of it to get you one tasty lil EP, making you give eyeteeth for more. And in the end, you'll be the deer and them, the deerstalkers.

One Inch Giant - Malva (2011)

From Hendrix's fuzzed-out blues to Pentagram's acid doom, there's the riff that outlasts pretty much anything else. In a musical setting rather similar to the Doménec Pascual Badía-esque artwork of "Malva", One Inch Giant play toothsome stoner rock; vocally somewhere stuck between Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight and Blitzkrieg, and; musically, Leadfoot, Buckaduzz, and Leaf Hound.

U.S. Christmas - The Valley Path (2011)

If Bong are channeling Sabbath, worshiping Hawkwind, and sounding like Sleep; then, USX may as well be worshiping Hawkwind, while channeling Neil Young, and sounding like Neurosis. Their latest offering is the 40-minute song/record "The Valley Path". A record relatively limited in scope and length, compared to last year's "Run Thick In The Night", but nevertheless a fantastic sonic experience from start to finish. Psychedelic metal might not exist as a well-constituted subgenre, though it would remain as one of the very few terms capable of describing the music of U.S. Christmas, which is far from the spectrum of rock in general. While some other terms that could also come as close, in categorizing the sound of USX, would be, respectively; folk metal, progressive and post-metal. And as far as the folk metal consensus goes, USX will have barely anything to do with it, but, given that particular consensus (same as progressive metal) has already been manipulated to a point-of-no-return, altering what the term suggests at its core, to disguise a number of worthless pop-wannabes as its representative artists and therefore its definition; one could see USX -- and Neurosis before that -- as both the founders and forerunners of genuine folk metal.

Tona - 1000 (2008)

Instrumentally, just as ambitious as Kong, Fu Manchu, and Keelhaul; and vocally, just as compelling as the Melvins, Five Horse Johnson, and Masters Of Reality; Tona are the sort of band you don't want to miss. And their full-length, "1000", the kind of record you'll be paying a visit at least twice a year, after your first round of listens. Led by former Katarza frontman, Đorđe Skorupan, the band delivers an engaging brand of rock music, combining the breeziness of desert rock with the incomplex complexity of noise rock, all while not trying too hard to sound like a replica of any of their influences -- e.g. Thin White Rope, Motörhead.

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