  This e-zine is for those who seek the heavy rock underground. Space rock. Hard rock. Doom. The Heavy 70's. For years we have been covering the cutting edge, while still honoring the forefathers, all to keep in touch with the riff. Now Roadburn has become a resource site of archival information and timeless articles. Much of what you read on Roadburn is written by bands. Studio reports, album lists, retrospectives... Hear what they have to say. Read interviews and editorials from an international staff, amuse your eyes with the innovative graphics, seek the heaviness. Find The Riff. Real Heavy. No Bullshit. Roadburn is waiting for you... Roadburn on Last FM & Myspace. Roadburn Records on Myspace. Plus, instead of a Roadburn Forum, we created a Roadburn Yahoo Group! Please subscribe here. Contact: walter The website: Audio Webcasts More Audio Webcasts Roadburn Records Homepage |
Our current articles: Shortcuts & Studio Reports: Ancestors, Us Christmas, Baroness, plus all the articles over the past few months...
 LA-based quintet ANCESTORS head off into third-eye territory on their amazing debut for TeePee Records affiliate North Atlantic Sound. The thing I like the most about the Ancestors is their manipulation of the musical vibe -- alternating between Sleep's heavy riffing and lysergic freak-outs. "Neptune With Fire" is a conceptual, two track record with a title track that tells of a metaphorical character and his cosmic, psychological ordeal through war, celebration, remorse and revelation", says vocalist Chico, "Four lyrical chapters that represent the four musical movements." Read More  Building on spacerock and wailing indie sounds US CHRISTMAS are riding a colossal psychrock wave that owes as much to Hawkwind or Spacemen 3 as it does to their stated influences like sludge metal, blues and early country. "Eat The Low Dogs" is a swirling maelstrom of liquid sounding, cosmic fuzz guitars, analog bleep and whoosh workouts, and universe-spanning dirges. "It was in the middle of January and it was cold as fuck outside, and about ten degrees colder in Chad's house where we had everything set up", says Nate Hall, "So the guitars went out of tune as soon as your hands warmed them up. We solved this by letting our hands get as cold as possible and then walking about in astonished confusion when the fingers wouldn't work. That's why the guitars sound so damn good." Read More  An incredible first full length and major label debut for BARONESS has pushed them to the forefront of underground metal. Combining thunderous riffs, roaring vocals and crashing drums, the Savanah based band has created a monumental record that soars, thanks to its mainly instrumental focus. With their music created in the same vein as former label mates Mastodon, the "Red Album" is an epic math-metal and prog-infused masterwork that never slows down. "Recording is always such a different experience then playing live", says bassist Summer Welch, "We are aware that our strength lies in our live show, and we really focused on expressing that in the recording." Read More |
 Alabama Thunderpussy Based in Richmond, Virginia since 1996 and fueled by a desire to play dirty, kick ass hard rock 'n metal, Alabama Thunderpussy continue to blaze ahead with their latest album, called "Open Fire." Read More The Angelic Process Formed in 1999, and hailing from the Athens Georgia realm, the husband-and-wife duo of K.Angylus and MDragynfly have been known to create some of the most mesmerizing and moving music within the ambient drone-metal musical realm -picture the wall-of-sound through the fuzzy celestial grace of My Bloody Valentine, the tribal ritualistic pulsations of Neurosis, the emotional fervor and bloodletting of Swans, and the powerful grace of Jesu, and here you'll get a glimpse of what The Angelic Process' latest album, "Weighing Souls With Sand", shall offer. And then some... Read More Antler Comprised of Roadsaw and Quintaine Americana members, Antler harkens back to the heyday of AM radio with the release of their sophomore album, "Nothing That A Bullet Couldn't Cure." Read more Astrid Pröll Puerto Rico's Astrid Pröll seemlessly integrates a wide array of influences including krautrock, rock, noise, space rock and stoner rock among others and while their self-titled debut album has its dreamier moments, when these guys are rockin' out they play like dervishes in warp drive. Read More Baby Woodrose Denmark's Baby Woodrose are back with a new album, called "Chasing Rainbows." Showcasing a more inwardly-rocking heavy psych than their previous two releases, it's probably the band's best album to date. Read More Birds of Prey Birds of prey features the creative collective of Alabama Thunder Pussy's Erik Larson on guitars, Bo Leslie [The last Van Zant] also on guitars, Summer Welch [Baroness] on bass, Dave Witte [Municipal Waste] on drums and Ben Hogg [Beaten Back To Pure] on vocals. The quintet recorded their sophomore album, called "Sulfer and Semen." Read More Black Cobra Black Cobra features ex-members of bellicose noiseniks, Cavity and -16- whose ability to generate singular buzz bomb slurry core remains resolutely intact, and their first full-length, "Bestial", eclipses the latter bands in terms of sheer viciousness. Read More The Brought Low Small Stone Records have an unerring talent of unearthing firebrand rock bands with a protean ability to blow ones socks off with all the robust force of a typhoon and recent signings The Brought Low are no exception. Read More Causa Sui Causa Sui deliver psych-rock at it's finest. And the band's latest album, called "Free Ride" situated their fuzzed-out psych works -in both inner and outer space- somewhere between the orbit of Neptune and the edge of Danmark. Read More Circulus Twisted folk-rockers Circulus have a new album out, called "Clocks Are Like People." Read More Clutch "From Beale Street To Oblivion" is Clutch' third album for DRT Entertainment, following "Blast Tyrant" and "RobotHive/Exodus." Read More Danava Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Danava harkens back to the mystical prog-rock from the early '70's. The band's sophomore album, called "Unonou" throws the listener into a vortex of fuzz fueled riffs, synthesized keyboards and Dusty Sparkles' cosmic wail, in a way so authentically satisfying as to make it the companion to Led Zepeplin's "Houses of the Holy." Read More Alan Davey "Human On The Outside" is a new studio release from former Hawkwind-bassplayer Alan Davey. The album builds on combinations of hard rock and atmospheric ambience that takes the listener on a journey that transcends time and space, and is also destined to please long time fans of his work with Hawkwind, admirers of his previous solo outings, Captured Rotation and Bedouin, and a whole new audience. Read More Dragontears Dragontears is a project featuring members [and ex-members] of Baby Woodrose and On Trial. Six songs were recorded during a mind-blowing week in the Black Tornado studio in Copenhagen, and these resulted in the band's debut album, "2000 Micorgrams From Home." Read More Dzjenghis Khan Armed with crushing riffs and high on weed, San Franciso's totally ravaged the bay area rock scene and now move onward, with the eternal blue sky to guide them, across the sea to the Netherworld --to record their debut album in The Hague, Holland with Guy from Orange Sunshine-fame! Read More Earthless Earthless are a powerhouse freakout trio from San Diego, California, playing long instrumental, partially structured improvised rock-n-roll, but with a lot of cosmic space-psych influences. And on their latest album, called "Rhythms From A Cosmic Sky" [out on Tee Pee Records], Earthless launch into pure Japanese-psychedelic-heavy-Kraut-rock bliss. Read More Earthling Society London based Earthling Society were formed 2004 in Lancashire England. Guitarist Fred Laird, bass player David Fyall and drummer Jon Blacow teamed up to create music influenced by their heroes Hawkwind, Ozrics, Funkadelic, Can, Ash Ra Tempel and Popol Vuh. Since then the band have excelled at synthesizing these influences into a psychedeliciously space rocking whole. Eartling Society's latest album, "Tears of Andromeda-Black Sails Against The Sky" is out now on Germany's own Nasoni Records. Read More End of Level Boss UK's End of Level Boss are infuriatingly hard to categorise, and while they are definitely all about the riff, they are also about creating interesting and contrasting soundscapes that don't necessarily conform to lore of Iommi. After listening to the band's new album, "Inside The Difference Engine", one gets the feeling that former Hangnail guitarist / vocalist Harry Armstrong enters an entirely new sonic vista. Read More Farflung Quintessential space rock band Farflung are about to release a new album, called "A Wound In Eternity." Forging territories beyond all known galaxies, head-flung Tommy Grenas partners with long time collaborators Ryan Kirk and Michael Esther for a chromatic assault on the five senses, offering propulsive, punk-laden and krautish' guitar, and utterly bombastic vocals -turning "A Wound In Eternity" into another cerebral outpouring of psychedelic spacerock to tickle the brain. Read More Firebird "Hot Wings" marks the return of Bill Steer's Firebird after a three year hiatus. Taking his passion for early Johnny Winter, classic rock and some slightly more obscure influences like 50's harmonica driven blues and 1930s Hawaiian Lap steel, Steer delivers an album that oozes the soulful [hard]rock sounds of the heavy 70's. Read More The Freeks A conglomeration of highly respected Psych-Heads and Way-Outs into the one communal thing that moves us all... SOUND. Gathered together to capture and re-create exactly that one thing that drives us all psych-heads first into a heavy madness of the good kind.. Read More Giant Brain Comprised of Motor City guitarist Phil Dürr [of Big Chief-fame] and local heroes Al and Andy Sutton, Giant Brain's sound harkens back to the heyday of Krautrock and fuzzed-out garage rock. Played with hallmark Detroit simplicity mixed with a European flare, the band's latest album, "Plume" offers a magnificent journey into hypnotic stoner soundscapes. Read More Gentleman's Pistols Hailing from leeds, Gentleman's Pistols are on Lee Dorrian's Rise Above label [instant cred!] and they deliver a truly compelling brand of heavy rock that sounds like an amalgamation of Free and Leafhound -the band's amazing self titled debut album should be heard by everyone. Read More Golden Pig Electric Blues Band "The music we make is an expression of all that we love in heavy music. We take a little from Black Sabbath here, Sleep there and the Beatles from over yonder, as well as anything else that feels good", says Jerome of the Golden Pig Electric Blues Band. Read More Graveyard Sweden's Graveyard formed in November 2006 with the intention of creating 'heavy psychedelic 70's hardrock' influenced by the likes of Cream, Leaf Hound and Blue Cheer. Since then the band recorded their first two songs, played a couple of shows, signed with Transubstans Records & TeePee Records, and released their much acclaimed S/T debut album. Read More The Harold Wartooth The Harold Wartooth is a hard rock band from Toronto, Canada. Fragments of the band have been jamming for years, but the lineup was finalized come late 2006. The 6 song album, "The Harold Wartooth EP", soon followed and to positive reviews. Read More Hermano Based in Joshua Tree California and fueled by a desire to play emotinal driven [hard]rock, Hermano [featuring John Garcia of Kyuss-fame] continue to blaze ahead with their latest album, called "...Into The Exam Room", due out on Holland's very own Suburban Records. Read More Jinxremover Spawning from Bristol's Airbus, James Childs [of Vic Du Monte-fame], Nicholas Davidge, Simon Hedges and Christopher Fielden now resurface under the new name Jinxremover. Read More Josiah UK psych rockers Josiah laid down their heaviest collection of tracks yet, and their new album, "No Time", got the power and the feel of the band's live experience mixed with some cool production techniques. Read More La Ia De Dios Following their acclaimed debut album, "Hacia El Sol Rojo", Peru's La Ira De Dios blast off even further into the earth's stratosphere with a mind blowing set of hard driving, deep space rock. Think of the most heavy rocking and spaciest, mostfreaked out Hawkwind minus the electronics and you are some way to imagining the gargantuan riff nebulae pulsing at the heart of "Archaeopterix", the band's latest album. Read More Lesbian Seattle-based Lesbian do grandiose heavy metal with aplomb, and their debut album, "Power Hör" [Holy Mountain Records], packs a seismic metal punch of some considerable impact. Read More Litmus "Planetfall" is the second album from UK based Litmus, and while it's stylistically right in line with their 2004 debut, the band are tighter and the album flows seamlessly from one track to the next. It's a real fasten-your-seatbelts adventure. Heavy... hard driving... punky, metallic SPACE ROCK. Hawkwind on steroids and blasting into space with a wild eyed damn-the-torpedoes attitude. Read More LongDistanceCalling "Satellite Bay" is the incredible first full-length from Germany's LongDistanceCalling. It has pushed the band into the vanguard of the European post-rock movement. With their music created in the same vein as Porcupine Tree, Isis, Tool and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, "Satellite Bay" takes the listener on a dark, cold, beautiful journey through a world in turmoil. Read More Lunar Dunes From London, England comes the debut from Lunar Dunes, an instrumental psychedelic space rock band that really knows how to lay down a cosmic groove. At times they sound like a more acid rock version of Ozric Tentacles, and at others they reminded us of bands like Hidria Spacefolk, that are firmly in the space-psych realm, though the tight playing and solid musicianship gives the music a progressive rock edge as well. Read More Mammatus California based Mammatus are leading the vanguard of the new wave of psychedelic heavy rock filling the gap left by the more commercial trajectory of the likes of Monster Magnet. On their sophomore album, "The Coast Explodes", the band unveils some super sonic heavy psych, encompassing several stylistic variations on the progressive-psychedelic axis. Read More Monkey3 Taking an experimental cue from Swiss legends, Celtic Frost, Monkey3 spin dense webs of sound, building simple riffs into crushing soundscapes. Their debut album was a stellar introduction to their strange psychedelic world and the new outing "39 Laps" is no less interesting. Read More Mos Generator Mos Generator hail from Port Orchard, Washington in the USA and are comprised of long time scene and studio veterans Tony Reed [ex- Treepeople], Shawn Johnson [ex-Mindfunk] and Scooter Haslip [ex-Voodoo Gearshift]. The band has recently released a new album called "Songs for the Future Gods", and right from the starting gate, the record gets deep into some stripped down, heavy rock territory, but with a flair for blending multiple influences. Read More Mother Trucker Instrumental riff-centred rock from Birmingham, Mothertrucker are distinctive and heavy. Their demo, "The Last Ride of Dr. Sanchez", was fantastic -Mothertrucker's latest album "Electric Blacksmith" is even better. Read More Nadja Formed in 2003 as a solo project for Aidan Baker to explore his interest in heavier, noisier, more aggressive music, Nadja has since been augemented by bassist Leah Buckareff -in order to make the project more than just a studio endeavour, and allow Nadja [currently based in Toronto, Canada] to perform live. Both Baker and Buckareff are adept at creating some of the mesmerizing drone, ambient doom metal, along the lines of Jesu, Godflesh, Sunn 0))) & Skullflower. Baker talks to Roadburn about Nadja's recent full-length, "Touched." Read More The Notorious Hifi Killers Imagine MC5 taking a stab at Spacemen 3 or Blue Cheer doing Loop and you're close to what London's The Notorious Hifi Killers offer up on their debut album. "Which Side Are You On?" will be coming out on Rocket Recordings, a label whose pedigree you can trust when it comes to blown-out psych and burly fuzz. The band has a killer, fuzzed-out guitar sound propelling their heavy-blues edge, but they also sport a primal rock-n-roll / stoned / psychedelic side. Read More Ogre When Ogre formed in late 1999, the band had two missions: to stay true to the sound and vision of the early 70s hard rock bands they idolized and to always remain a three-piece band. To Ogre, the power trio is the ultimate format for rock and for the band itself -stripped down, no frills, every band member pulling his own weight, no dead weight. Read More On Trial "Forever" marks a new chapter as well as a welcome return for the veteran Danish psychrock crew On Trial -it's their first new studio album of original tracks in almost 5 years. Read More OM OM consists of ex-Sleep members Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius, and their latest effort, "Conference of The Birds" heralds their return in full flight. Read More Orange Sunshine Forget the host of retro-rock bands wandering about in their paisley shirts and bellbottom jeans, Hollands own Orange Sunshine has the real LSD-driven, late 60's sounds and man do they rip! Read More Øresund Space Collective Øresund Space Collective are really on a roll. Hot on the heels of their outstanding 2-CD "It's All About Delay", the band is back with a brand new set of space jams. "The Black Tomato" consists of three tracks, totaling nearly 80 minutes of all instrumental improvisational space rocking bliss. Read More Orthodox Spanish doom's most exciting new prospects, Orthodox, give the Roadburn reader the exclusive behind-the-scenes shenanigans from the recording sessions of their pulverising debut album, "Gran Poder." Read More Pelican "City of Echoes", the third full length from windy city dwellers Pelican , is sure to alienate existing fans -not that the boys care. Keeping in the tradition with the bands intention to constantly morph and mature while retaining the original element of sweeping and textural instrumental metal, they have created a masterwork that spawns genres and features guitarists Lebec and De Brauw dueling at the height of their powers. Read More Poseidotica Poseidotica play a potent, all instrumental brand of environmental, heavy trance-rock. And their debut full-length, "Intramundo" demonstrates how this band can alternate between heavy riffage, dreamy meditative excursions, and even incorporate jazz, tango and progressive elements. Read more Retro Grave Rterograve was born from Jeff Oly Olson, a percussion artist from the international doom metal band, Trouble. Olson has recorded, and toured internationally with Trouble, off and on since 1979, headlining shows throughout the US and performing at numerous music festivals throughout Europe. Retro Grave's self-titled [self-released] EP was released on June 5 2007, and it's written, recorded and performed in its entirety by Olson and is an expression of all that he loves in heavy music. Read More Sheavy Sheavy released a brand new album entitled "The Machine That Won The War." It's the band's sixth full-length, and the first indie release the band has done since "Blue Sky Mind back in 1995." Read More The Spores The Spores, featuring Molly McGuire, released their self-produced debut album, called "Imagine The Future" on Sidecho Records. The Spores is Molly's brainchild -a bedroom project gone marionette- turned-live trio, and now with a self-produced album to their name. Read More Sun Dial Founded and helmed to this day by guitarist Gary Ramon, UK's Sun Dial released two seminal psychedelic rock albums in the early 90's, called "Other Way Out" & "Return Journey." Read More Tia Carrera Austin Texas' Tia Carrera are an all instrumental heavy psych rock power trio that are clearly... ok, blatantly... Hendrix influenced. But that's OK, because once you accept that you can settle in and enjoy the seriously top notch psych rock jams the band has on offer on their latest EP, called "Heaven/Hell." Read More Titan Titan are from Brooklyn, New York and play an incredible blend of Space Rock, Kraut Rock, Stoner and Progressive, with their roots firmly in the 70s, and their hearts & souls in the present. Right off the bat their monstrous new album, "A Raining Sun of Light & Love, For You & You & You" goes deep into molten lava rocking freakout territory. Read More White Hills' Hailing from New York, White Hill's "Heads on Fire" is nothing if not the aural simulation of an LSD freak-out. A jammed up collision of fuzzed-out wah wah guitars, gonzoid bass riffs and weird electronic noises arranged in a stunning replication of the effects of Owsley's psychotropic gift to brains everywhere. Read More Wooden Shjips Wooden Shjips are from the San Francisco area, and play trippy psychedelic acid rock that is reminiscent of Spaceman 3 & Loop, but also Jefferson Airplane. Wooden Shjips took the front cover for their debut album sitting on the steps of their Haight-Ashbury house, as a homage to those 60s photos of bands in San Francisco. Seems pretty cool to us. Read More Year of No Light It is immediately clear, right from the opening track of Year of No Lights 's much acclaimed "Nord" album, why they have played gigs with bands such as Isis and Explosions in the Sky. Clocking in at just under an hour, "Nord" is a musical experience that demands your attention. Read More SHORTCUT STORIES Æthenor To accompany the release of two brand new albums, Æthenor will perform a select number of shows including an appearance at the Roadburn Festival [by request of David Tibet, on Sunday, April 20th, 2008]. Read More Baby Dee Baby dee was born in Cleveland Ohio, and her forthcoming album, entitled Safe Inside the Day, released January 22, 2008 on Drag City is very much about the street she grew up on. Where The Earlie King ruled without mercy. And Bobby Slot and Freddy Weiss invented the Dance of Diminishing Possibilities. Read More Blood Ceremony Toronto's Blood Ceremony are currently working on their debut full-length. Read More Dead Meadow Dead Meadow's Steve Kille is rambling on to Roadburn about making their new, still untilted record. "We are currently in Sunset Sound, mixing the album. So it is all about ghosts." Read More Mammatus Formed at the beginning of 2005, Santa Cruz' Mammatus enter the realm of heavy drone with an excess of fuzz and wah-noise. Read more The Glasspack Dirty Dave's story of attending SXSW 2007 in Austin, TX: "Oddly enough, when the Glasspack was through playing and putting our stuff away, Jello Biafra came up and congradulated us on the set. We were stoked." Read More RETROSPECTIVES Roadburn's 2006 year-end retrospective -over 50 bands gazing back at 2006, and guest editorials about the past year in rock! REVIEWS The Summer 2006 review section! COSMIC TRAVEL GUIDE Gorilla Johnny Gorilla rambles on to Roadburn about his favorite albums. Read more Spacerock Faves The Cosmic Travel Guide to Classic Space Rock by Aural-Innovations staff-writer Keith Henderson. Read More BACK TO TOP
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