Album Review: sleepmakeswaves – It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It

sleepmakeswaves are the following:

Fun
Energetic
Excellent riffs
One of my favourite post-rock bands
Absolutely awesome
Hot, cool and sexy

I’ve seen sleepmakeswaves play twice. The first time was at San Fran, a local venue here in Wellington. They were opening for This Will Destroy You, and were incredible and definitely made TWDY look lame by comparison. The next time was in Melbourne, at Monolith Festival. Monolith was an awesome day featuring a unbelievably stacked lineup of Australian post and prog bands, and sleepmakeswaves played a stand out set that made me feel so giddy and happy that I think they should look at somehow packaging their music in pill form to be used as antidepressants.

I will be seeing them play in Belgium at dunk!festival this coming May as well and they are the band I am most excited to see.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I reviewed their album Made of Breath Only back in 2017. I loved it, of course. Since then sleepmakeswaves have released an ambitious 3 EP trilogy, a live album, and a split 7″ with Cog [Another fantastic Australian band. They also played the aforementioned Monolith Festival, and I’ve written about one of their side projects – The Occupants]. And now they’re treating us to a new record: It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It.

What a beautifully meta title. It’s basically called Untitled, but in the spirit of ridiculous long run-on names that are somewhat common in the post-rock scene [other examples: maybeshewill, 65daysofstatic, worriedaboutsatan]. I see other glimpses into their sense of humour when watching their Metallica cover [shaving a chopper mo just for the video is definite commitment to the bit!] and their 8bit computer game promo video for this album, and I get the impression that these lads would be great to hang out with.

Let’s engage in an imagination exercise. Picture me pressing play on this record. I’m listening to an advanced digital download, but it’s cooler if you picture me placing the needle onto the groove of the record while it spins on the turntable. Probably a splattery green pressing, to match the album art. It doesn’t matter – this is an imagined scenario anyway.

Cue fuzzy droning, a cool metallic metronome, a wicked drum beat, and a big build up. My face lights up more and more with each addition. There’s a pause, and then a huge bombastic drum fill. Suddenly I’m jumping around the room, playing air-drums, with a big pulsing quarter notes on the crash cymbal, whilst simultaneously wielding a sick air guitar and shredding. I’m full stank face mode, and we’re only a minute into the album.

Let that visual inform you of the tone of this review. sleepmakeswaves make me so excited and I need everyone to know about it.

Lead single “Super Realm Park” is big, energetic and driving. It has loud parts and quiet dynamic sections. There’s some glitchy electronic elements at times, and lots of tremolo playing. It finishes with a lovely piano outro. It showcases exactly what sleepmakeswaves are capable of.

Here’s an extract from the press release for the second single, “Ritual Control”:

The band comments: “Ritual Control was originally demoed as Dr. Riff Has Arrived. I still wonder whether we were mistaken to have not kept the old title.

Otto originally presented the skeleton of the song to us with the concern that maybe the riff were “too dumb”. In fact, Tim and I responded, they are the perfect quantity of dumb. Sure, these riffs aren’t going to earn a PhD but they will hold down a full-time job, get the kids to school on time and read the occasional piece of challenging non-fiction on weekends. These kinds of courageous and heartfelt conversations are the core of what effective post-rock songwriting is all about.“

Big dumb riffs. That’s what we want. Why think when you can headbang? Local doomlords Beastwars have the slogan “Obey the Riff”, which is both marketing genius and an apt phrase, and summarises exactly the feeling I’m trying to convey. Most sleepmakeswaves songs are instrumental. We don’t need to get caught up pondering meaning and . Dumb riffs = good music. Also, Soundgarden have a song entitled “Big Dumb Sex”. Not sure how that’s relevant but I feel it supports my case somehow.

I’m not sure which riff in “Ritual Control” riff is the “dumb riff” in question, but there’s a great part at 2:30 where everything drops out, and an extremely raunchy riff comes centrestage, and I must draw your attention to that part of the song.

The album starts of extremely strong, and you definitely know about this. Things shift gear down from such bombastic heights and begin to take a turn with the fourth track, “Black Paradise”, which features quiet guitar picking for the first half, followed by pretty synth drone and guitar swells in the following song, “Verdigris”.

Two songs features ethereal vocals, which is a point of difference for an instrumental band. We hear singing on “Terror Future” – with its especially outstanding basslines, and also on the titular track.

“It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It” is truly beautiful. The serene fingerpicking and searing yet calm guitar playing reminds me of Dan Caine’s work. It builds up with an anthemic rock feel, but there’s something special about this track that sets it apart from the others. It feels more considered and emotive, and somehow befitting of it’s name. To quote the band again: “The title is a line from zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, about not needing to find words for everything all the time.” I can’t explain it, but I somehow understand how fitting that is when I hear the song.

This is what I wanted. This is what I needed. sleepmakeswaves delivers, yet again. It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It sounds simply huge. The album feels short, but it packs such a punch that perhaps more music would cause fatigue. It is an album of two halves. The immense, high energy rock songs at the start of the album are incredible and fill me with such incredible joy and excitement. And then the later half of the album features a few quieter tracks to show that sleepmakeswaves aren’t just a one-trick-pony. But trust me, it’s all fantastic. Or maybe don’t trust me – I’ve painted a picture of a madman when describing my reactions to sleepmakeswaves’ music. – but at least check out this excellent album.

sleepmakeswaves have Australian, American and European tours lined up to promote this album. They are playing alongside their countryfolk Meniscus and Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, as well as Taiwanese math-rockers Elephant Gym. I encourage you to attend one of those shows if you get the opportunity. As I mentioned earlier, I will be seeing them at dunk!festival in Belgium, and I am fizzing with excitement for it.

It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It will be released on 12 April 2024

sleepmakeswaves links:

Order: https://sleepmakeswaves.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sleepmakeswavesaus
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sleepmakeswaves
Label: https://birdsrobe.com

Review and photos by Joseph James

Album Review: Vorn – The Late Album

There’s no hiding that I love Vorn – the eponymous band of Vorn Colgan, also featuring Thomas Liggett on violin and Nick Brown on drums. I once flew to Nelson overnight to see them play in Mapua and I took my parents to the gig.

Have you ever had that experience where you’re watching a movie with your folks and then a sex scene comes on and it becomes extremely uncomfortable and you’re not quite sure where to look? Yeah… the gig was a bit like that. I’m not sure why I thought it’d be wise to take my fairly conservative mother to a Vorn gig. But I did – and on the whole it was a good time – but just left me feeling a bit unclean and borderline regretful afterwards – which I think is the natural reaction for most people who listen to Vorn’s music.

Vorn live in Mapua. Image: Will Not Fade

You may remember that I reviewed Vorn’s (the band) last release, which came in the format of a one-take YouTube video. The experimental format was not much of a success – if measured by how many listens the release acquires – but in true Vorn fashion, it was original and showcased some great musicianship.

Since then, Vorn (the person) has found success through other means, going semi-viral with The Wellington Sea Shanty Society, and adding trombone to his ever-expanding repertoire as a member of New Orleans styled second-line band Crash Bandihoot.

Opening track “Fanfare” brings you up to date with events that have happened over the past five years. Vorn is living (or dying, depending on what sensationalist spin he drums up to sell albums) with stage four cancer. I found this out when I saw the press release advertising his 2019 “Last Chance to See” Final Tour. That news hit me hard. It took a while to sink in and I broke down in tears at work the following day. But thankfully modern medicine (or more likely: sheer stubbornness) has kept Vorn with us long enough for him to void his “last chance” promises and putt out another album for the general public to ignore. The song is obnoxious in pedantry and weird time signature changes, but with wry humour throughout so it’s all par for the course. It also explains the album title: The Late Album, which Vorn always joked would be his post-humous next release.

Lead single “No Arms No Chocolate” discusses horrific ways to perish and the futility of life. Life goes on… or rather it doesn’t. So it goes.

I love the pacing of it – very driven with lots of pulsing stabs of rhythm. It sweeps you up and takes you for a ride. A rip-roaringly cheerful nihilism anthem. Drummer Nick Brown shared that the song title references a weird French chocolate advert but couldn’t explain what that had to do with the song’s themes. Or why he wore that questionable Santa outfit in the video clip…

Follow up single, “A Safe Pair of Hands” lives up to its name. I find the bass line especially warm and comforting. I don’t have a clue what it’s about, but I find it incredibly endearing. They’ve done well blending traditional instruments with some programmed/synthesized elements to create a dynamically catchy and inviting wee earworm. It’s a reworked version of a song that Vorn contributed to a Powertools Records compilation years ago, and I’m glad that they’ve chosen to revisit it and bring more attention to that fantastic songwriting. This is the song that I keep coming back to, and I love how it makes me feel.

I’m not going to give a blow by blow summary. No one has that much tolerance to put up with all my in-jokes. But I’ll touch on a handful of the songs to highlight the variety of what you’d expect to encounter.

“Aging Hipster Blues” is a fun, tongue in cheek shuffle with an air of smarmy jaded elitism. It conjures the image of that Simpsons meme in which Principal Skinner is questioning how he became so out of touch. “Ballad in G Sharp Minor” is a waltz but certainly not a romantic dance. “The Unbearable Dumbness of Being” sounds like post-punk mixed with electronica. “Drug Friends” is the spiritual successor to “The Tinny House Hop” from Vorn and The (2008) – fun, catchy, and about drugs.

“Somebody Wrote A Prog Song About The Internet and It Is Fire Emoji” is extremly meta and the title sums it up. At first, it’s a bit slow for me. But when it hits, damn it’s awesome. Watch your volume levels on this one, because it’s so quiet for the first half, before coming in loud and strong with riffs and distortion and cool musical elements that bogans like. This is the song that outs me as an insufferable Tool fan if I chose to discuss it. The final passage is full stank face mode.

“A Dying Man’s Curse Be Upon You” is an interesting concept – the contrarian answer to the Irish Blessing that you’d expect to find embroidered and on display at any given Pakeha Grandmother’s house. I find it both funny and genuinely upsetting, especially considering the niche band merch Vorn made to accompany the song. Take time to listen to the lyrics and laugh at just how petty the curse is.

“Zombie Rock” is always a favourite. A jazzy number that invites crowd participation with the easily learnt lyric of “BRAINS!” Vorn never learns though. You’d think he would, running niche pub quizzes every week, but he doesn’t. This crowd participation always backfires and irritates him no end when people inevitably screw it up. And I find his frustration hilarious and always heckle him about it whenever the opportunity presents itself. Anyway, the song is infectiously fun. And even more fun when you shout out BRAINS! at the wrong time just to annoy the guy who wrote the song. [Editorial note: I have since found out that “Zombie Rock” is not on the album, but will be used as a B Side. But I love the song and I like heckling Vorn so I’ve opted to keep this paragraph anyway.]

Vorn’s musical output has always been fantastic. Ceaselessly witty, and drawing indiscriminately from random genres. And Vorn has never shied away from dark themes. But I do find the subject matter of this album confronting at times – seeing how it is about one of my friends dying. Vorn wrestles with his mortality by singing about his looming demise with humour.

You can see the trio wearing matching t-shirts in the video clip for lead single “No Arms No Chocolate”, and the album art for this single features the same image. It’s Vorn’s “deathmask”. To quote him “It was custom made to immobilise my face while they fired radiation into my brain. The X marks one of the spots”. They’ve turned brain tumours into band merch. Similarly, they have been selling t-shirts of Vorn’s face with eye’s X’d out for a few years – a design that they’ve updated for The Late Album cover art. Power to Vorn for finding a way to process things in a creative and productive way, but do get a bit sensitive about it.

Vorn is a nerd. An intellectual and a musical savant. The stereotypical New Zealander loves rugby and Six60, and Vorn is the antithesis of this. So I am torn between admiring his talent, and wanting to tear him down for being the tall standing poppy that he is. But ultimately I have to concede that I am a nerd too – undeniably so, seeing how I run a music blog. So of course I love how clever and complex Vorn’s music is. The biting social commentary, the marvelous harmonies, the odd time-signatures that the band plays in, just because they are good talented enough that they need to challenge themselves like that. All packaged up in a macabre, self-deprecating album.

Kudos to Thomas and Nick for making the band more than the sum of its parts. Thomas’ violin playing never ceases to fascinate me, the ways he makes different sounds with his plucking and bowing and using effects pedals. And as a drummer, I’ve always admired Nick’s playing, and marveled at how his style is so different to my own. And when the three of them are harmonizing, the vocals are to die for. The Vorn band has featured many different members throughout the years, but Thomas and Nick have stuck with Vorn for some time now, and it really shows with how well they can lock in and interplay.

Imposter syndrome is never far from reach, and as I try to conclude this review, I am very much aware that I will never be able to do justice to any analysis of Vorn’s creative outputs. I consider Vorn (the person) a genius, and am in awe of the talent that the Vorn trio amass. I have no idea what many of his songs are about, or quite how technical and challenging they are to play. It’s beyond my comprehension. But the music is fun, funny and interesting, and certainly a departure from convention.

Recommended for nerdy musicians, intellectuals and those with dark sense of humour.

Vorn links:

https://vornpowertool.bandcamp.com/
https://www.vornmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Vornmusic/
https://www.youtube.com/@vornography

Album Review: Winter Dust – Unisono

I first discovered Winter Dust through the first A Thousand Arms compilation, Open Language. I was instantly hooked. The song was called “There”, from the Thresholds EP – one of the best EPs I can name from any genre of music. It was emotive, passionate, raw, compelling. It just sucked me in completely.

Their next release, Sense By Erosion, was just as incredible, channeling more of that intense emotion into truly incredible music. In my review I wrote: “By taking the beauty of post-rock, the intensity of hardcore and the emotional aspects of emo, Winter Dust have fused their own sound that ticks all the right boxes for me.“

That was in 2018. The “before times”, if you will. Things have changed a lot since then.

Winter Dust faced some tragedies. In December 2019 they were involved in a car crash, totaling their van and destroying a lot of their instruments and musical equipment. And then in 2020 the world came to a standstill, with Italy hit especially hard.

I was planning to return to Europe in 2020 with my American brothers in Ranges, and we were to tour and play at dunk!Festival. I was really excited for that trip, and was planning to visit Italy for the first time to meet the members of Winter Dust, and possibly even see them play live. I’m online friends with a some of the members of the band. I remember them painting a scene that I interpreted with absolute terror, discussing how the pandemic was ripping through Italy at a pace that the medical professionals couldn’t defend against. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I recall someone discussing mass graves. I do recall the sense of shock and disbelief. It was gut wrenching. The world was coming to an end.

In March 2020 Winter Dust made a post on their band page: “Here in Italy shows are banned, and so will be everywhere, soon.” And sure enough, their damning prophecy came true.

I felt so isolated, living on a small island nation, stranded in the Pacific. Just a few months earlier I was so full of hope – so excited – with plans to see the world and go traveling and meet up with foreign friends. And in a short space of time that was taken from me. It’s not fair to compare – and New Zealand had a lot better experience of the pandemic than most – but I found it extremely difficult to process. I grieved the loss of live music, and struggled with the feeling of complete helplessness over what was happening throughout the world.

A lot of what I just discussed hasn’t got much to do with the songs that Winter Dust write. But it provides context for what I’m reliving as I listen to this new album. The music is so emotionally potent already, and now brings up strong personally feelings and memories.

I’ve just scrolled back through the Winter Dust Facebook feed and found two posts from that time. I remember the feeling of dread and uncertainty, but looking back with hindsight on my side, I commend how they worded those posts. They were pragmatic, sending a message that yes, times are hard. But they also shared a message of hope: that we will get through this. Here is a post not long after their car crash, and here is a post about the looming pandemic. They were so strong in the face of all they were going through, and I’m so glad that they survived. And I’m grateful for this new album: Unisono.

Something to differentiate Unisono from Winter Dust’s previous works is that it features Italian singing. Which is awesome. Why wouldn’t a band from Italy sing in Italian? In a recent interview with DafenProject, Marco Vezzaro (vocals and guitar) explained that he could only express the things he needed to convey on this record accurately in his native tongue.

I don’t understand Italian and I feel that to put the lyrics through an online translator would somehow tarnish the music or cheapen the experience. But I don’t see this as a barrier. The music is still beautiful, the singing compelling. I don’t understand the words, but I can hear the emotion.

The magnificent guitar tone that opens “Castelli de Sabbia” is one of my favourite moments of the record. I don’t play guitar so won’t be able to do it justice with any description, but it’s so full sounding, especially when coupled with Vezzaro’s throaty vocals. It’s so central to what I love about Winter Dust’s sound, so familiar. Almost homely, in a weird way.

My two favourite tracks on Unisono involve guest appearances by fellow Italian duo Six Impossible Things. “Buio Presto” features such sweet singing courtesy of SIT singer Nicole Fodritto, with the music slowly elevating the mood, especially with snare-heavy drumming. And then BOOM, the guitar comes in and everything steps up a notch, with Vezzaro’s impassioned hardcore vocals bringing a touch of anger.

And lead single “Due Novembre” launches straight into it, with the band coming in full force, while Fodritto and Vezzaro harmonise. It a wonderful blending of textures. I love how they bring the song down to a simmer, Fodritto easing us out as the galloping drums cease and the other music trails off.

Some of these songs are shorter than I would have expected, and could use a bit more fleshing out, with more instrumental breaks for breathing room. I guess I’m used to the post-rock passages that take the time to unpack and explore musical ideas. These elements are still present, but Unisono leans more on the hardcore aspect of Winter Dust’s sound, being more direct, aggressive and concise.

There are many layers within the music, but I wouldn’t call it dense. It feels well balanced. Twinkling piano sits beside the distorted guitar. Overdriven intense passages are spaced out with reverberating breathing moments. There are six musicians in the band, plus the guest appearances from two members of Six Impossible Things. And together they pool their expertise to span the spectrum of music and the feelings that it can convey.

The last record, Sense by Erosion, featured a single called “Duration of Gloom“. I know it’s not the correct lyric, but I always hear the opening line as “Setting fire to the sun!”. That doesn’t even make sense, but the vocal delivery is so visceral. I picture Vezzaro delivering his searing call to arms as he cries out to the universe, shouting out to any who will listen. This is often what comes to mind as I listen to Winter Dust’s music. The impassioned vocals of someone crying out to the void, with brilliant music that carries just as much power and emotion to match.

And this is what has always struck a chord with me about Winter Dust. And it remains true with this latest album as well. We hear pain and anguish and frustration. But we also hear tenderness and beauty within the melodies. Unisono, is cathartic, to say the least.

I’m passionate about music. I wouldn’t have gone to the efforts of creating this website if I wasn’t. I’m a busy guy, but take time to write about music that inspires me; that I believe more people should hear about. And of the many bands I’ve written about over the years, I think Winter Dust is one of the bands most worthy of more attention.

Listen to Unisono. It’s an absolute triumph. And listen to Winter Dust’s older material too. Buy their records and a t-shirt. They are truly one of the best bands out there and they deserve all the support they can get.

Winter Dust are Marco Belloni (keys, piano, programming), Giulia De Paoli (grand piano, keys), Fabio Gallato (guitar), Marco Macchini (drums), Marco Lezzerini (bass), Marco Vezzaro (vocals, guitar, looping).

They’re based between Padua (IT) and London (UK).

Winter Dust links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winterdust

Bandcamp: https://winter-dust.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winterdustmusic/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@winterdust

Twitter: https://twitter.com/winterdustmusic

Keep an eye on Voice of the Unheard Records for potential physical releases.

Joseph James

Album Review: Desbot – Pass of Change

I met Maurice Beckett last year after his band Jakob played their incredible album Solace live at The Tuning Fork in Auckland. I sheepishly admitted that I was the one who had once referred to him as a “hairy behemoth” in a review. Beckett just laughed. He was great to chat to, super laid back and didn’t take things too seriously.

Regular Will Not Fade readers should need no introduction to Jakob, the mighty post-rock trio from Hawkes Bay. Desbot is another post-rock trio with Beckett on bass, but despite sharing these similarities, they are very much a different beast.

Desbot released their debut album Pass of Change back in October, and I’ve been thrashing it the entire time.

Something I love about Desbot’s music is the feeling of momentum that each song exudes. The drums [play by Tom Pierard] are often driving, especially with open hi-hats, bright crashes and harsh china cymbals – big explosive, washy sounds. And the bass – often the star – is usually pulsing, throbbing, compelling us to nod our heads and tap our feet – to feel the music and the hypnotic energy it radiates. One of the best examples of this is the breakdown in “Eclipsed” – crushingly heavy as the band pummels us with dense slabs of sound that they conjure up.

Rounding out the trio is Nick Blow on keys. Most rock music is centred around guitar riffing, so the omission of guitar is enough to make this mix unique. The keys here are more ephemeral, often just colouring the feel and creating the mood with sci-fi swells and interesting effects. It’s a great move, being able to draw on countless crazy synthetic sounds that keyboard soundbanks can offer.

It’s an interesting dynamic: the rhythm section locking in tight to push the music, with keys plucking flavouring from the stratosphere to make it all interesting. And while the structure can feel linear and a bit simple, it is never boring. The music is often incredibly heavy and distorted, yet somehow feels hopeful and not oppressive.

The band explores texture and tonality, playing with space and sounds to bring a fresh, otherworldly feel to a lot of the songs on the album. They use so many interesting effects and inorganic timbres that it borders on industrial at times, with odd mechanical screeches and whirrs that make me envision a robotic production line, or even a futuristic spacecraft. Listen to the fantastic reverberating drumming in “No Response or Benefit”, or the warning siren sound that phases out slowly during the outro of “Pass of Change”.

It’s possible that this experimental feel arises from their writing process. Drummer Pierard shares that the trio all wrote and demoed ideas at home individually during lockdown periods – which pushed them to be more creative – and delays caused by the pandemic forced them to slow down and really take the time to craft and hone these songs and add more depth to the music..

In short, Pass of Change is great. A solid album that I happily keep returning to. I’m really hoping that they come to Wellington at some point this coming year because I bet their music sounds absolutely monstrous played live through a decent speaker system.

Desbot links: https://linktr.ee/Desbot

Album Review: Planet Hunter – Moscovium

Another special one today whanau, far out I got an advance copy of the new Planet Hunter album that I’ve been spinning this week. I’m not too sure how many shows around the country Planet Hunter has done, so if anyone from outside of Wellington is reading this and doesn’t recognize the name, man give this fucking thing a spin and get woke to one of Wellington’s sickest bands.

Which Dragon Ball Super arc exactly was the Planet Hunter in?

Does this mean we won’t get an Aethea reunion?

What happens when stoner rock bands sound like they don’t smoke weed?

Let’s find out together

Image: Garry Thomas Photos

Planet Hunter – Moscovium

Planet Hunter is a complete anomaly man, they exist in this super weird space where they’re stoner enough for all the people who’ve never worn hemmed pants in their life to lose their fucking mind over them, but also calling them a stoner rock band actually kinda negates all the super cool shit they do. They’re like the guy at the show who gets way too drunk and annoying, does a few snortskies and turns into a maniac, so someone gives him a spliff just to not have the same fucking conversation AGAIN then post-spliff he’s actually really interesting and has dope riffs. That’s Planet Hunter.

I first got turned onto Planet Hunter because homie Chris Roberts, who most of you probably know by his stage name of “Dreaded guy who got murdered on Glassblower’s music video for Gatekeeper”, text me at like 2am and said they were basically the best band he’d ever seen and I have to see them. So obviously I didn’t go see them for like another 6 months, but man I can’t even explain how much I fell in love with this band when I finally saw them.

Planet Hunter is made up of William Saunders on guitars, Cormac Ferris on vocals Jed Van Ewijk on bass and David McGurk on the drums. God damn that’s a strong line-up, Will is the kind of guitarist that you know will always have the best tone of any show he’s on, but you have to avoid him after the set because you know he’s going to want to talk about his pedalboard. Jed is a monster bassist, I always remember when I first moved to Wellington he was playing in Aethea and even though they had the sickest live DM live show (Fuck Pixelated Stripper and Ringbinder were bangers) around at the time, they used to cover the Alex Kidd theme song too and everyone would always lose their mind so much harder at that, I love thinking about him still being punished about that 15 years later OH MAN YOU’RE THAT GUY ALEX THE KIDD RULES I LOVE SEGA MASTERDRIVE. I don’t actually know David well, so I really don’t wanna rag on him just in case he’s a pre-workout kind of guy and smashes my head in, but he’s a wicked drummer. Planet Hunter are also super brave because they’re the first band ever to my knowledge to have an actual art installation on vocals. Mark my words in 30 years people won’t be speaking about Marina Abramović without the mention of Cormac Ferris from Planet Hunter.

Image: Will Not Fade

Alright let’s talk about this album man, it’s a doozy.

Like everyone else in New Zealand, I also had to google the word Moscovium, because fucking hell, what? Turns out it’s a highly radioactive metal that only a few atoms have ever been made. Also turns out it has no biological purpose, just like Will’s dating life, I guess that’s why they named it that? Fuck yea concept album.

Generally, I like bands that are pretty fucking miserable, I fucking love the kind of band you have to google their political views before you buy their merch just in case, you know? Ugh, then having some punisher tell me I should separate the art and the artist like their opinion matters in the slightest while they’re probably quoting fucking Fight Club at me. But man, Planet Hunter isn’t that – There were several points during the album that I actually felt like it was trying to fix me. Bad news Planet Hunter, you fucking didn’t okay, and I resent you for trying. It’s got this really uplifting energy without ever being happy or annoying. Like crushing a zopiclone and going to Timezone instead of smoking weed and sitting in a tree like every stoner band wants you to do.

Man, Planet Hunter exist in such an interesting space, they don’t quite fit any specific genre tag without feeling like you’re doing them a disservice. The only way I can explain it is you know how all the metal and hardcore kids in their thirties had their music tastes all fucked up by the Tony Hawk 2 soundtrack? Planet Hunter are the kids who grew up on Syphon Filter. Syphon Filter ruled man, but don’t play it now because it sucks ass, I know you think it’s probably aged okay and after hearing me say this you’re gonna download it, but fight that man, it sucks now, you strafe with the left and right bumpers for fucks sake. God, it sucks so hard now. Not Planet Hunter though, they’re alright.

The album starts off so hardout strong with Humans of the Wild that wouldn’t feel out of place on any Melvins album when they had Big Business as a rhythm section, which is also their best era don’t even try tell me their new stuff is still good, they’re like a Melvins parody tribute band at this point.

Cormac’s performance on Moscovium is really fucking great man, every time I hear him sing I can’t help but think of an awkward interaction I had with him after the second or third time I saw Planet Hunter. I was drunk as and doing something else I won’t post just in case I ever want to apply for a job again, I went up to him after a set and gave him what I thought was a bangin’ compliment. I told him that I fucking loved his vocals so much because they’re clearly inspired by Maynard James Keenan but they’re not annoying as fuck and trying to sell me shit wine. I think that’s something Planet Hunter does really well, you can hear that they wear their influences on their sleeves, but it never just sounds like that band. Like you can hear Alice in Chains, but it’s not whiney and 47 years old. You can hear Tool but it’s not exhausting. There are hints of the more intense stoner rock bands like Red Fang and Sasquatch but the influences never overstay their welcome.

Also don’t fucking @ me for the Tool jab, I have no opinion on Tool and I can’t be fucked talking to you about them. You’re just mad your favourite band hasn’t had a good album since 2001.

The Ocean is a big standout on the album for me, starting with what people would assume is a synth but I fucking KNOW Will used a bit-crusher on his guitar to get that sound to save money. TELL ME I’M WRONG WILL. By the time the bridge hits this shit becomes oppressive, in the best way possible. The bridge is absolutely crushing and I could listen to that riff all day, in fact someone make me one of those 10 hour supercut Youtube videos of just this riff. Name it ‘Planet Hunter Fappening Leak’ so only the true fans will find it.

I’m a massive fan of Will’s guitar playing on Moscovium, his tone is as flawless as his life choices are flawed. He always seems to be playing exactly what the song needs in the moment instead of appealing to his ego and putting flashy shit all over it, but when he needs to be flashy he’s right there with a texture or a lead that becomes the centre of the track. Don’t even get me started on the chorus riff of Droning, it’s shit like this that helps differentiate Planet Hunter from any other band in the perceived genre.

Jed has been such a mainstay in the Wellington scene that you can guarantee if he’s playing on an album the performance will be tight as fuck, and his bass performance here is fucking awesome. His tone is never overwhelming but always present. The way him and David are in sync is perfect and best represented in a song like Valley and I fucking love that David doesn’t fall into the ‘what would a stoner band do’ groove, his performance is unpredictable and can go from classic stoner vibes like in Dying Since Birth to frantic psychedelic passages almost reminiscent of Earthless in songs like Droning.

I’m still getting used to reviewing albums I don’t fucking despise, so please bear with me while I find my voice with this style, and this isn’t some toxic shit about not being able to say nice things to people, I tell my friends I love them all the time, fuck I’ll kiss all of you on the lips right now DM me for my address don’t even fuckin’ try me. But I tell you what, being nice about an album is fucking hard work.

Is this album going to be for everyone who reads this? Fuck no, I know how broken most of you are. But man, I can’t stress this enough – Give this album a spin, even if you’re a beatdown lizard death metal gatekeeper hating on Stranger Things kids. There’s SO much here to love, so many genres being represented in a cohesive way and there’s layers to this album that every time I listen to it, I find more stuff that I love. Songs like The Ocean have the heaviness that make you want to close the curtains and reassess things, the songs like Humans of the Wild and Droning are pure party energy to impress your friends with, and we all know you’re struggling to impress your friends with your shit Soundcloud bedroom recordings.

Rating – 420 but also had 9 beers out of 5

Favourite track – The Ocean