Kozmik Artifact – Europe’s leading purveyor of heavy psych, blues and stoner rock – is pleased to announce the release of He Dreams Of Lions, the brand new album from heavy psych rockers The Heavy Eyes.

Following on from their 2011 self-titled debut, and 2012’s successful Maera album, the Memphis trio return to the fold this November with their most accomplished record to date. Over eleven tracks, amidst the unbridled rawness of ‘Saint’, the sheer weight of ‘Z-Bo’ and R’n’B shake appeal of ‘Smoke Signal, hypnotic hard rock riffs are delivered thick and fast through distorted fuzz boxes, gnarled bass lines and levee breaking drum beats. This is an album that draws heavily from the heaviest (Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Mountain) and in doing so turns out new ideas with a punishing authenticity and honesty in line with their Memphis blues heritage.

This is The Heavy Eyes, one of rock and roll’s best and brightest, and He Dreams Of Lions will be released via Kozmik Artifactz on 13th November 2015.

The Heavy Eyes:
Tripp Shumake – Vocals, Guitars
Wally Anderson – Bass
Eric Garcia – Drums

The Heavy Eyes - 'Somniloquy' (Kozmik Artifactz}

Originally formed in 2006 under the name PsychoToBlack, after numerous personnel changes, a handful of filed missing person reports and a ritual or two in the black arts, Tokyo’s Sithter eventually emerged, dragged into sunlight.

Influenced by the traditional sludge metal of bands like Grief, Eyehategod and Buzzoven, after leaving his previous outfit MONE¥I$GOD in 2007, guitarist Hyö "Noise Fucker" Kagawa brought with him experiments in doom and dark psychedelia, alongside drummer Takefumi Matsuda and vocalist/guitarist Hiroyuki Takano. Completed by the arrival of newest member Wahei Gotoh on bass in 2013 – kidnapped from the heavy cosmic rock band Dhidalah – the quartet quickly became masters of the “Sonic Death Sludge” sound.

Following the release of 2009’s The Last Temptation EP, their first full-length album Evilfucker on the Russian doom label Bad Road Records and a split with Seoul-based death metal trio Gonguri last year, this December will see the release of Chaotic Fiend on Bonten Records. The introductory taste of which can be sampled via the track ‘Masque Of The Black Death’, a poisonous and molasses thick assault on all senses.

Sithter also tour Japan this November with Serbian doom rockers Heretic Rites (for the full list of dates see below) ahead of the release of Chaotic Fiend on 9th December.

Chaotic Fiend

Sithter - 'Masque Of The Black Death' (Bonten Records)

Artificial Head Records is pleased to announce the signing of psychedelic sludge band Cursus and with it the release of their self-titled debut album this April.

Taken from the Latin word meaning “course” – specifically the mournful paths our ancestors once took to bury their dead – the San Antonio-based paring of guitarist/vocalist CJ Duron and drummer Sarah Roork first came into being in the winter of 2013 with the release of their Summer Solstice Sessions demo. Influenced by the likes of Om, Neurosis, YOB and Ufomammut, and deep in experimentation with different sounds, instruments and drone frequencies, the demo slowly unfurled colossal riff driven soundscapes that permeated and punched in equal measure.

Released through Bandcamp it quickly caught the ear of label boss and fellow Texan, Walter Carlos, who signed Cursus on the spot to his Houston-based label Artificial Head Records.

“I had toured with Cursus a few times over the years and I’ve always admired their massive sound. Their ability to crush bodies in the room with their songs is uncanny,” explains Carlos. “Initially, we were going to release a live cassette by the band from recordings they made while on tour. But as the project kept going, we decided that a full-length studio album would be better and we’re proud to have Cursus as part of our family.”

Three years on from the release of Summer Solstice Sessions and Duron and Roork have their debut album loaded. Produced in a basement-recording studio by close friend Chris Dillard, over six devastating songs Cursus summons personal and spiritual pains and turns each into amplified dirges packed with riffs, hypnotic string arrangements and spellbinding percussion. With the power of cosmic doom burning brightly, distortion slams hard into 6/8 rhythms as the Duron and Roork charter a longboat through a magnificent storm of ethereal destruction.

Cursus’s self-titled debut album will be released on vinyl/digital on 28th April 2017 via Artificial Head Records.

Cursus

Cusus

CURSUS - 'Waters of Wrath' (Artificial Head Records)

Hailing from Austin, TX, harbingers of doom Destroyer of Light are no idlers. Within a year of forming in 2012 and with little mind to wait around, the heavy-as-hell/louder-than-war quartet released their Self-Titled EP themselves and in doing so kick started what would became an ongoing DIY endeavor driven by huge riffs, hallowed tales and endless road journeys.

No matter which rock you look under there’s no hiding the fact that the band is heavily indebted to the darker side of stoner metal and everything that goes along with it. Bathed in an aural haze and ominous song craft, Destroyer of Light’s music is unmistakably one of grim theatricality and crushing heavy metal dirges. Influences such as Electric Wizard, Mercyful Fate, EYEHATEGOD and Autopsy serve as striking counterpoints to the literary and filmic references they dig up in Wiccan-stalked forests and horror anthologies. Following up on their debut in 2014 with their second release Bizarre Tales Vol. 2, if anyone just so happened to be in any doubt, death and destruction is very much the order of service and confessional sermons are delivered in a constant sea of feedback and percussive right hooks.

This July however Destroyer of Light are primed to unearth their latest album, a haunting and humid foray into the realms of doom rock, aptly titled Chamber of Horrors. Dragging their music into a cavernous basement to experiment freely with underground sounds, listeners are treated to a ritual ear beating and a memorable trip into psychedelic realms unknown.

Chamber of Horrors by Destroyer of Light will be released on 14th July on Heavy Friends Records.

Chamber of Horrors

Destroyer of Light - 'Prisoner Of Eternity' (Heavy Friends Records)

Sludgelord Records is thrilled to announce the signing of the Baton Rouge-based colossus, WOORMS, for the release of their debut album Slake this January.
 
Formed in 2017 in Louisiana and featuring guitarist/vocalist Joey Carbo, bassist John Robinson, and drummer Aaron Polk, WOORMS has been delivering a devastating and brutal mélange of riffs and noise-rock righteousness on the precipice of significance for some time.
 
Yet despite only being a year or so into their sonic existence WOORMS has already racked up a number of releases; a collection of demos, digital one-offs (‘Daddy Was A Masker,’ 'The Math Says, Yes') and a split with NOLA thrashers, A Hanging. Last month, WOORMS returned with the first sanctioned cut from their debut album, Slake (which gets its official release this January) when ‘Mouth is a Wound’ scored an exclusive premiere on Decibel Magazine. Fully stirred from a delirious slumber, a second cut soon followed with 'Find a Meal, Find a Bed, Find a God', which, for all intents and purposes is the perfect introduction to the band; a lumbering, symphonic noise-rock shank fight between the fattest of riffs and the thinnest of patience with the world at large. Making for a devastatingly terse and perverse experience, from the pinnacle to the point of no return, it falls psychotically through the fuzz and unholy grind of bands like KARP, Jesus Lizard and Neurosis. As lead vocalist/guitarist Joey Carbo explains:
 
“Every person is a perfectly unfucked being at the outset.
The birth process takes care of all that.
This is like my ninety-ninth misanthropy song and, hopefully, it’s my best on the subject.
A fetus finds itself free of need or want; coming into consciousness in a dark and warm, red cloud. 
Head down in the water. 
It’s all downhill from there – as they say. And the greatest minds of any era: the artists and thinkers and titans of science, they all had a few things in common. Three, to my mind. They would need food and shelter and most of them would create or find (or be subject to) a god or group of gods. 
You’ll also need a job out here. You may find it necessary to kill, to do terrifying things. All things considered, it’s a rigged game and a shit show from one end to the other.
What were you thinking?
Best you stay in there, in the water.”
 
Slake, the debut album by WOORMS is officially released on 18th January 2019 via Hospital Records in the US and across UK/EU by Sludgelord Records.

Pre-order the album and stream/share new song 'Stiff Upper Lisp' here - https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/track/stiff-upper-lisp

Slake

WOORMS - 'Find a Meal Find a Bed Find a God' (Hospital Records / Sludgelord Records)

Formed in the city of Norrköping in 2009, Skraeckoedlan – a reference to ‘Godzilla’ in Swedish – are one of the most ambitious, original and multidimensional bands to emerge from Scandinavia in recent years. 

Like Galactus-in-reverse, their talent for constructing new worlds from the building blocks of heavy psychedelia and progressive rock is simply awe inspiring, and this February will see the release of their most accomplished vision yet… Eorþe (Translated; ‘Earth’).
 
In collaboration with sci-fi author Nils Håkansson who wrote the story behind the album specifically for Skraeckoedlan, Eorþe is set in the 1920s amid a mystery heavy with Lovecraftian influence and philosophical nuances. As the band explains, “This is by far our most ambitious work of art yet. It’s been a real challenge to do someone else’s story justice whilst making the songs cohesive as well as standing strong on their own. It took a lot of effort, but we’ve done just that.”
 
Having loyally served as heralds to Nordic folklore and science fiction since their inception, following the release of their early EPs in 2010 the band gained the kind of attention that could only lead on to the creation of a much-admired debut album in Äppelträdet (2011, translated; ‘The Apple Tree’) produced by Oskar Cedermalm from the legendary fuzz band Truckfighters.
 
Live shows with the likes of Orange Goblin, Kylesa, Greenleaf and other giants of the genre followed in the wake of Äppelträdet’s success and in 2015, with production underway on their follow-up album Sagor (Translated; ‘Tales’) Skraeckoedlan worked with a number of acclaimed producers including Niklas Berglöf (Ghost, Den Svenska Björnstammen) and Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames, El Caco).
 
It wasn’t however until they met producer and technician Erik Berglund that they really found what was missing. Lifting the band to entirely new levels of musicianship, under his tutelage the creative process for Sagor not only left the band with an album they were immensely proud of, but one that sat deservedly at number two in the national Swedish vinyl sales chart in August, 2015.
 
Heading into 2019 with the help of Fuzzorama Records, Skraeckoedlan steer a course to Eorþe, their first album in over three years and undoubtedly their most progressive. With the big metal riffs of new single ‘Kung Mammut’ riding shotgun alongside the more introspective and explorative moments of songs like ‘Mammutkungens Barn’ and ‘Angra Mainyu’, the trio have cut a definitive and spellbinding record of light and dark. In addition to the CD and standard vinyl editions, Eorþe will also come in a limited-edition box set which sees the album split across two gatefold vinyl records; Earth: Above and Earth: Below. The set will come packed with pieces of merchandise that revolve around the story and feature alternative artwork.

Stream and share the brand-new video for single ‘Kung Mammut’ here – https://youtu.be/eQA_eyUA8_8

Earth

Skraeckoedlan - 'Tentakler & Betar' (Fuzzorama Records)

Originally formed in Wiltshire in 2015 by guitarist Bill Denton, Cracked Machine is a quartet of experienced musicians brought together in a quest for aural mayhem.

Known for their commanding and mesmerising live shows, since their formation the band has shared stages with the likes of The Spacelords, Deaf Radio and Qujaku. With the band’s debut album, I, Cosmonaut, still ringing in the ears of those in the know following its release last May on PsyKa Records, follow up album The Call of the Void digs its musical heels in even deeper.

“We have all come from different musical backgrounds,” explains Denton. “Which can sometimes be a tricky situation, but we have developed a style and method of working that embraces the differences. There’s a lot of jamming involved in our creative process and we’ve learnt how to be fairly ruthless with ideas when they don’t work and equally we don’t overthink ideas that do. We definitely thrive on the improvisation side of playing.”

Hook-laden guitars conjure soaring post-rock vistas and showcase a huge progression in their song writing, a progression that’s reconfigured Cracked Machine into a leaner, meaner, and ultimately, heavier sounding machine. While they are happy to hold court and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Toundra, Forming the Void and Explosions in the Sky, sonically they are more than capable of capturing the throne from right under their noses.

Fully realised and breath-taking in its execution, Cracked Machine’s brilliant new album The Call of the Void will be released on digital, vinyl (black or orange/transparent edition) and CD through PsyKa Records on 12th April 2019. Pre-order album here - https://psyka-records.com/en/lp/108-cracked-machine-the-call-of-the-void.html

The Call of the Void

Cracked Machine - 'Jormungandr' (PsyKa Records)

Sheltered Life PR is a new music and media PR and promotion agency based in Cardiff/Bristol, UK. We aim to provide imaginative campaigns and professional support to signed/unsigned bands, artists, record labels, venues, production companies, filmmakers, charities, event organisers and promoters. 

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