LP Review: Self Titled by Hogan's Goat

Hogan's Goat

There's a Scottish folktale called Hogan's Goat.

Were you aware?

This was something that we didn't know about here. So basically, Hogan's Goat was this disgusting creature that was reported to smell just god awful.

Being compared to Hogan's Goat is actually a great insult, but here are with a band from Nashville (non-country) that's using this as their name.

They've even chosen to use a drawing of the goat as their album cover. This is where I think they've made a bit of a mistake. For black magic reasons, the goat has been used as a symbol in extreme metal for years upon years which have bled into decades.

Stream: "Crown (Murder Edition)" by Hollow Leg

Hollow Leg's EP, Murder, is finally out on this side of the pond.

Get thee to Facebook and ask them about those creepy bugs, but in the mean time, you can settle for enjoying the whole thing right here...

Well right here...

Of course right below the right here and I do mean the preceding right here.

Oh just look down.

LP Review: "Hard Chargin'" by Dreadnaught

Hard Chargin'

One of the folks in my life is presently engaged in a battle of wills to the death.

It's easy to feel bad for them because they're in a brand new situation. One that many of us have been accustomed to for years, if not decades.

The thing about it is...it's easy to get discouraged. It's being made harder than it should be. Fighting back is the best way of going about it.

My suggestion is a series of passive aggressive shots over the course of months and years to send a tiny little message.

Never shy away from a challenge. Let's shout cliches from the rooftops! Defying convention is the mother of invention! (Wait...is a cliche?)

Stream: "Unicorns on Sticks" by Neurococcyx

There are just times in this world when you need something totally crazy from France.

Well, avant-garde, French instrumentalists Neurococcyx has it for you.

Check it out here and ask them comment allez vous on Facebook.

Video: "Soul and Chemicals" by Siamese

Siamese has just released a video off of their latest album, Shameless. This is certainly a different sort of music that what's normally shared and reviewed here on Glacially Musical.

However, it's quite hard for me to walk way from hard rock with violins.

Shameless is out on Artery Recordings in the USA and Avalon Records in Japan.

Get the album here and thump them back on Facebook.

Stream: "Leaving Is Easy" by A Valley Son

Before we get to the single, let me just say.

This is the 1,000th post on Glacially Musical. We started this site in August of 2012 and here we are, 999 posts later: Interviews, Albums, Vinyl, Concerts, Streams, and Videos.

Thank you very much for your continued readership and please Like us on Facebook. It means the world to me that others are reading what we think about music.

Today we're streaming the lead single from A Valley Son's upcoming record, But The World Moves, due September 8th.

LP Review: Laser Flames On The Great Big News's Self Titled

Laser Flames On The Great Big News

One of the things a band can do in order to improve their durability is adding more than one vocalist.

Granted if you're Led Zeppelin, don't bother Robert Plant has that all sewn up. Other bands....like Kiss though.... their music isn't as intricate as that of say a Led Zeppelin or Metallica.

So, by starting off with three vocalists and then adding another, it kept their sound fresh and interesting.

Kiss stole borrowed that idea from The Beatles. At the time they started, it was a similar thing. The music wasn't much more than three chord rock.

In the end, there have been eight different people to sing on Kiss tunes. Only Mark St. John and Vinnie Vincent have not sung on a Kiss song. Crazy.

What if though, a band had two vocalists and didn't need them in order to freshen up each song?

Vinyl Review: "The Battery Line" by Quin Galavis

The Battery Line

Let's say a few  nice words about mile stones if you don't mind my going off on a small tangent before we get into the meat of this review.

It doesn't seem all that long ago when a band first had two album reviews here, but that was nearly five years ago.

Today, Quin Galavis becomes the first artist to get the vinyl treatment for a second time. (Confidentially, there's another one in the kitty though.)

Glacially Musical is rapidly closing in on our 1000th post. In fact, this is post number 997. In my life, there's been a lot of t hings I've done, but this one is certainly among the longest, most successful, and very satisfying. You may have noticed that for the past two weeks I was a bit off the grid, just because, a break from this behemoth was required. As a small site that we do on the side, it's hard to keep up all of the content.

Thank you for enjoying the ride with us.

Stream: "My Name Is Murder" by Brendon Small

Like many of us in the metal community, Metalocalypse was a big deal to me. It took awhile before learning that there were actual musicians involved in the project. Seriously, how could anybody be able to write, voice, and music up that show?

Brendon Small, though he be barred from anything Dethklok, is still making music. His new project is called Brendon Small's Galaktikon.

Preorder it on Amazon on vinyl here or CD/Digital.

Stream: "Will O Wisp" by Nekrocraft

There are times when it takes more than a simple I-III-IV Chord Progression to get us through the day.

Nekrokraft is bringing some truly painful death metal spliced with a little bit of black metal. See if you can pull on the threads.

Hail them on Facebook.

LP Review: "Amen Breaks" by Quiet Hollers

Amen Breaks

As far as I'm concerned, my love the Quiet Hollers has never been remotely a secret.

Their eponymous album is still one of the biggest bright spots of 2015 and it's subsequent vinyl pressing (complete with black splatter on clear coloring) was also a bright spot of 2016.

Our friends from Kentucky stopped in at the Heavy Anchor in December of 2015, and we were able to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary while they played some amazing songs.

The only dark cloud was that their vinyl had been pushed back so I wasn't able to go home with it that evening. The full house they had though warmed the cockles of my heart. It's awesome to see a band succeeding in this day and age.

In this modern age, there are far too many instances of a band, though of quality, being chewed up and spat out because they weren't able to make a financial go of it.

Stream: "Dementophøbia" by

Check out Dementophøbia from our good friends, NØMADS.

They're currently six months into a year long project where they'll be releasing a single each month. By the time it's released, hopefully on glorious vinyl but  not on red like Free My Animal, you'll have had all the tracks at your finger tips.

Every song of theirs will be available to go straight into your earholes and worm their way into your brains.

Oh yeah, say what's up on Facebook.

Before you click on this rocking new song, they're selling the vinyl edition of their debut record on the cheap.

Make sure you pick on up. They're limited to only 225. If you snooze, you lose, but I have my copy and I'll be rocking it for years.

Interview: Wo Fat

Wo Fat

At the Glacially Musical 70's Preservation Society Headquarters, Closet L-3, we conducted an interview with Wo Fat, a band who's unabashedly mired in the decade that gave us Led Zeppelin, Kiss, and Hooker'n'Heat.

They were quite willing to listen to my rambling questions.

If you've been waiting to hear what a band thinks of my sludge/vintage rock/metal thoughts, consider your wait to have ended.

Glacially Musical: Thank you for taking some time for me today.

Wo-Fat: Thank you for talking to us and for supporting the scene.

Video: "Singularity 45" by Shadowflag

Cheltenham, England's Shadowflag has just put out a new video.

Much like their poetic black metal's lyrics, this clip features all sorts of cheerful happenings that coincide with just how wonderful the world is chugging along right now.

Enjoy and Facebook stalk them a bit.

CD Review: "Potboiler" by Future Hate

Potboiler

Let's start at the beginning.

Do you know what I love about Punk Rock/Hardcore/etc and all that jazz?

Frankly, not a whole helluvalot. Punk and Country are kind of similar to me in that, whereas I used to dismiss it all out of hand, there are now exceptions.

Punk Rock to me all goes back to the first time I heard the Sex Pistols. At the time, my metal ONLY phase was going full strength and the idea that a band who didn't have significant prowess on the instruments...

Well that was simply verboten. Why in the world should we listen to this crap? To this day though, Nevermind the Bollocks is still unlistenable to me.

Concert Review: Metallica at Busch Stadium in St. Louis June 4, 2017 -Words and Photos by Danny Nichols

In August 1986, when I was nine years old,  my family took a summer trip to Fox Springs Resort in central Missouri.  While there I made friends with an older kid named Doug Shirley who had brought some cassettes with him which were considerably different than the Olivia Newton John and Barry Manilow my mother had subjected me too.   Principal among this stack was Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”.    Before the opening track "Battery" had finished a paradigm shift in my musical interest occurred which would severely impact the rest of my life. 

LP Review: "Through The Ages of Sleep" by Siberian

Through The Ages of Sleep

It's time to let you into my life once again. At the time of this writing, my Chinese food has tarried so.

This brings up two very serious questions as this post moves forward:

1) Will this post be finished before my lunch arrives?

2) Will my low blood sugar affect my ability to write this post?

As this blogger is a mild sufferer of hypoglycemia, there are times when my personal chemistry can be off and really mahoober up everything I'm doing.

UPDATE! My food has arrived. Even though I'm listening to this album for the third time, there really are only sporadic inferences and ideas running through my dome. Allow me to eat my lunch and get back to you afterwards.

LP Review: "Cremation Songs" by Tomten

Cremation Songs

As my life as a parent continues to move forward, there are more and more strange happenings.

My daughter loves the symphony. So, we attend the concerts they hold on Sunday afternoon for the kids. Many times the songs they play are familiar to me because of hearing them in old Loony Toons.

As she's also into Loony Toons, it's even more fun. The idea of what cartoons were like when I was a kid is so different than today.

My mind routinely brings up a particular episode featuring a family of owls. The father owl teaches classical music and he keeps a sign on his door stating "NO JASS." Naturally, the little owl loves jazz music. So there's the interplay between the father wanting his son to be respectable and the son wanting to be true to his heart.

This all plays out while the owling is on the radio alternately singing jazz and classical music.

Interview: Tid (Ex-Ghost and Current Magna Carta Cartel)

The Sign Records have been unleashing many new (to us) albums here across the Pond.

One of the more interesting bands out there is Tid. There are former members of Ghost in Tid. Then there's also another band that's connected, the Magna Carta Cartel.

Recently, we sat down to discuss Ghost, Tid, music, and listening to Swedish music in English at the Glacially Musical Fjord Discussion Room B and this is what we came away with.

Glacially Musical: Thank you for taking the time for me today.

Tid: Thank You for having us.

GM: Listening to Fix Ide, I can hear a lot of similarities with Ghost and a lot of differences. How would you describe each band's music?

Tid: Tid’s music is not bound to rules, classic songwriting or the search to create the feeling of nostalgia - quite the opposite.

LP Review: "Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void" by Seer

Vol. III & IV: Cult of the Void

If you look up at the night sky, you'll be seeing a vast expanse that we can never understand.

The images we see in the stars is sometimes millions of years old because it simply takes that long for it to get here.

In a smaller comparison, think about countries like Japan and the United Kingdom. Those two nations have about 2/3's of the population of these United States, yet have land space around the size of California, if you combined them.

Now, look at the United States. It's the fourth largest nation in terms of land, but India, who's the size of Texas has four times our population.

They have no vast expanses like we do. What do these things do to us as people? It's impossible for humanity to grasp the expanses we see everyday. Seer...they're from a nation, Canada, that has even more expanse than the United States.

Video: "Agenda (I) Cryptograms (II) A Digital Self" by The Vicious Head Society

Let's talk about a new band, The Vicious Head Society. They're a symphonic progressive metal band all the way from Ireland.

They've just released the video for their latest single from Abject Tomorrow.

If you haven't liked them on Facebook...what are you even doing there?

Video: "Freak Flag" by Quiet Riot

There are certain bands that mark times in our lives. When I was a boy, we watched NBC's Friday Night Videos.

To this day, Quiet Riot still holds a place in my heart. With that said, check out their new track!

Let them know what you think on Facebook.

LP Review: "Tales of the Wicked West" by Maidavale

Tales of the Wicked West

There are times when our conversations yield some interesting omens.

Not two hours before this record began playing, my friend and I were knee deep in a conversation about rich rock stars and how as they age, the can become giant douches.

One in particular, whom I won't name, is very popular. He's been around for over 30 years in the sphere of popular, and mostly, quality music.

For the past 15 or so (HERE COMES LARGE SWATHS OF OPINION),  he's tried so desperately to be the second coming of Jimi Hendrix with his tales of love and such.

The problem is, as he grew up in an almost idyllic childhood in a virtual paradise, it's hard to see his claims as valid, unlike Jimi's as he grew up seeing the actual horror of life. It's kind of like the Spanish Inquisition, your confessions aren't genuine without torture.

Vinyl Review: "Ti Bon Ange" by Suspirians

Ti Bon Ange

What you may or may not know about me, dear readers, is that this guy right here is the biggest nerd you'll ever meet.

Sure, most days, pimping brutal death metal, drinking craft beers, shaving with a vintage safety razor, and having a beautiful family, and living in a beautiful home that needs work...

You might not ever guess that I'm reading a fantasy novel, a Red Dwarf novel, and thinking about the space time continuum.

The eddies of the time stream fascinate me to no end. Recently, I had a very long dream about such things. In the dream, my biggest childhood dream could have been realized should I have been willing to go back in time and make a singular different choice.

Now, we could speak about the Mirror of Erised here and discuss my life and the ramifications, but what struck me about that dream was my understanding of what would have happened should the deal have been accepted.

Video: "Faradic" by The Summoned

It's one of those days where we just need to be punched in the face by a pure wall of death metal.

Check out Faradic below and ask The Summoned what makes them human on Facebook.

EP Review: "The Hills Have Eyes" by Märvel

The Hills Have Eyes

Nobody, well besides myself, wants to be that guy.

That guy infests everything we do in society. It's a constant refrain when two or more humans are engaged in conversation about anything under the sun.

Well, I don't want to be that guy, but music sounds better on vinyl. I don't want to be that guy, but where is today's Led Zeppelin?

The list goes on and on. It's not just about music, or food, or beer, or child rearing..etc..etc...etc...

Seriously, we could probably spend the next thirty five to forty years discussing how awful that guy, and I are and can really be. Personally, I'm working on the "don't yuck on my yum" philosophy. If others like it, don't piss on it. OK?

Interview: Volker's Ulrich Wegrich and Jen Nyx

Volker

It's certainly been awhile, but you may recall when we reviewed Volker's debut EP.

They were definitely a cool and unique band and that EP just got me more and more excited to hear more of their music.

Their latest album, Dead Doll, was released on Overpowered Records on May 26th and is a real cracker.

Recently guitarist/composer Ulrich Wegrich and vocalist/lyricist Jen Nyx took some time to visit the Glacially Musical Secret Underground Headquarters of the Global Email Center of Greater Zimbabwe, just past the water cooler, in the room that isn't being spied upon by Moscow to answer a few of our questions.

Now you can get to know them.

Video: "St. Valentine's Boys" by Quiet Hollers

It was fully my intention to get this video out to you last week, but sickness sapped out all of my productivity.

Their new record is out on July 7th and the full review is coming later this month. Until then, check out their latest track!

Don't forget to check out their pix on Facebook.

LP Review: "Spectral Ascent" by Kabbalah

Spectral Ascent

Reading Jimmy Page's interviews over the years has been a darkly illuminating experience.

There was one particular discussion where he was talking about being in opium dens on the other side of the world with Robert Plant, on a songwriting expedition.

In my mind, there was a stunning picture of Page and Plant sitting on a stage, each wearing a fez, and smoking these large hookah pipes as they sang or at least tried to find the song.

We've all got at least one friend who'd read that little passage and think, "man, it would be awesome to hang out with them and smoke opium and hashish."

In some of the music they created, there's an element of this scene. Influences here and there could speak to this time, but Led Zeppelin never created this soundtrack. Page and Plant, touched on it a bit....

Video: "I Can't Feel A Thing" by Holy Wars

Let's slow things down for a minute and watch something a bit different.

Holy Wars is a darkened pop band from the very metal city of Los Angeles.

Watch the video and say hi on Facebook.

Vinyl Review: "Locust Lunatic Asylum" by Sober Truth

There was an interview with Kim Thayil about 20 years ago when Soundgarden was riding the wave of their critically acclaimed albums in the late 90's.

He talked about how much he hated heavy metal because he thought it was silly. Those acts weren't writing songs about real life, but Dungeons & Dragons.

Well, no disrespect to the fine work of Gary Gygax, TSR, and Ronnie James Dio, that was such a ridiculous statement that had me screaming in my head about how wrong he was.

The stereotype that metal is dumb and, again no disrespect to Gygax and Co, cannot cope with the real world or see anything more than childish fantasies is something that has long since grated on most of us in the metal community.

LP Review: "Wicked Covenant" by Bury The Machines

Wicked Covenant

As a small boy, my mother would have me wash the dishes after dinner.

It was one of my first regularly occurring chores. Because she was a control freak, she would then go in an check everything that was in order to make sure it was done correctly.

She complained that it was harder for her to have me do it rather than doing it herself.

This concept never really made much sense in my preteen mind as she wasn't expending nearly the amount of energy as I was in order to get the kitchen sparkling clean.

Questionable parenting practices aside, she was right. The mental energy that it takes to get one's child to learn the proper cleaning practices is immense. Think about writing an album...even a short one....

LP Review: "Deny Everything" by Contra

Deny Everything

Over the past year or so, my daughter and I have become avid comic book readers.

It's pretty safe to say that we have pretty different tastes in what we read. She's strongly into the My Little Pony Universe.

Part of what got me going back into the world of comics are the superhero movies going back to Tobey Maguire's Spiderman.

Recently, all superhero books have been removed from my pull list because of whole universe idea and capitalization on the movies and tie ins to this and that.

It was overwhelming and I was reading Guardians of the Galaxy because I wanted to read that and not Fantastic Four. The reason for all this is because comic books are always in the Second Act. So they're continually starting over, re-inventing the stories, etc. It's kind of what George Lucas has been doing to Star Wars since home releases became a thing.