SPIRAL GURU is a band that blows you away when you hear them. How has this band escaped my attention before now? Catchy heavy riffs, generous amounts of psych, and absolutely unbelievable vocals. Spiral Guru's latest album "Void" has been out only a month and it's doing well on Bandcamp, and I completely understand its success. Listen for yourself:


This whole album is so strong that it just blows me away. There is a real progression to the songs, too. The first few tracks are very strong and heavy, then things get into more of a slower psychedelic area, and finally the last track "Holy Mountain" really bangs it to a big finish. I have discovered so many great bands while compiling BRASIL IN FUZZ and without hesitation I will say that Spiral Guru is one of my favorites. Mrs. Cracklins also digs them a lot and we have been playing "Void" for many of our Happy Hours.


Spiral Guru describes their sound as "heavy rock" and "space rock" and "psychedelic" and these are all part of their sound for sure. I would add "heavy psych" since that gets right to the heart of their sound.

Spiral Guro is:

Vocals - Andrea Ruocco
Guitar - Samuel Pedrosa
Bass - José Ribeiro
Drums - Alexandre H. G. Garcia

Check out the YouTube video for "Oracle" --

I love demo albums. A little bit of lo-fi sound doesn't bother me, and when it's doom, usually the lo-fi adds to the sound. So when EMBER BRICK got at me with their demo debut album "Flying Money Machine" there was no problem to give it a listen. There's plenty of heavy fuzz, powerful riffs, and great vocals to show off what Ember Brick brings to the stoner doom scene. Have a listen:

BUFFALO LECTER

It's no secret how much I love jams and improvised music (Dos Brujos, anyone?) so I am excited to share BUFFALO LECTER with you. This is a 3-piece instrumental improvisational jam band whose music can be described as experimental rock, but there are also sounds of psych, prog, stoner .... this band explores a lot of sonic territory. Take a listen to their debut EP:



I asked Buffalo Lecter to tell me about their band and their sound:

Buffalo Lecter, an instrumental rock trio based in Recife, Brazil, has been developing its repertoire since October 2017, taking advantage of the freedom that only independent music can provide, to work the sounds and explore the capacity of music. instrumental reflect landscapes, moods, feelings of the soul. 

With a rock'n roll of many influences, the trio did not adhere to the comfort of the ready-made formulas and made it in the laboratory to achieve the band's multifaceted sonority, an expression that can be defined as a kind of progressive, psychedelia, hard molotov cocktail. rock, stoner ... an incendiary chemistry that won't let you keep still!

Buffalo Lecter is Jadie Tavares on drums, Laio Orellana on guitar and Marcelo Duva on electric bass.

Stay in touch with Buffalo Lecter at:


How I met these guys was when they contacted me about getting a song onto BRASIL IN FUZZ my new digital compilation featuring only bands from Brazil. Follow me on Bandcamp to get FIVE HOURS of killer heavy music from Brazil THIS SATURDAY!!

MAHARA debut album "The Gathering"

You know the music is going to be killer when one of your bands suggests an album to you. One day last week I got a DM from Dos Brujos saying to check out the debut album from Barcelona doom band MAHARA. And all I can say is, Dos Brujos knows their doom! This album is so solid that it is a little dizzying to comprehend how it is a debut album. Check out "The Gathering" --


The album opens up very ominously. The tones are pure doom and the chants are nearly incomprehensible. And just as you are straining to hear the words, they drop the riff hammer on your vulnerable head and off we go for 45 minutes of pounding doom with haunting vocals.


"God's Requiem" is a little shorter than the opening track, but it kicks right in with a pretty fast riff. I really dig doom that keeps the tempo going nice and strong like this. Doom doesn't have to be funeral march. This song gets downright punchy at times.


The middle track "Wizard's Tower" slows things back down, amps up the chilling chants and necro noises, and delivers what is maybe the strongest riff on the album. Nothing but solid songs throughout.


"Merga" might be my favorite song, but really I am just splitting hairs here because every track on this album is pure gigantic doom riffage. Merga has sound effects and screams and howls laid over the top of the heavy thundering bass line which give it the sound of a haunted house dance party. I love that the riff is pretty fast, but never stops pounding your body and soul.

The title track "The Gathering" wraps up the album in epic style. It's long, it's heavy, and vocals are haunting throughout.


A little bio from the band:

MAHARA was born in 2018 in Sabadell, Barcelona by Marc R. (Drums), Pablo R. (Bass), Carles M. (Guitar), and Marta M. (Vocals).
We are influenced by Electric Wizard, Windhand, Mephistofeles, Messa, Weedeater...
The Gathering was recorded in one day at Estudio Aqueron with the help of Marcos from Ground.

"The Gathering" by Spain's MAHARA is 45 minutes of blissful, heavy, and entertaining doom. Dig it! Thanks again to Dos Brujos and be sure to follow Dos Brujos on Bandcamp to get the news on their upcoming CD!! Right on!

Follow Mahara at:

BUZZARD CULT

BUZZARD CULT will drop its self-titled and self-recorded DIY debut EP on August 30. This band hits a lot of sounds that I dig so much: grunge, punk vocals, Southern rock, and that heavy fuzzed-out sound that gave me my name. Don't let the DIY recording keep you away. This sounds great, and what's punk without some rough edges? Check out the lead single "No Turning Back" on Bandcamp:



I really dig a band that can master a few different sounds, and use them when needed to fit the song. "No Turning Back" is more of a punk song, but then next up is "Ill Scheming" which slows it down and veers into grunge territory. Then "You're to Blame" finds a middle ground and is pretty much a Southern heavy rocker. And so it goes for 6 tracks. All the songs are solid and if I have to pick a favorite, it would be "Night is Dark" which blends their different sounds into a fuzzed-out uptempo grunged-out rocker with a killer guitar solo.

Check out the video for "No Turning Back" --


BUZZARD CULT S/T EP will have 6 tracks and be released on August 30. Links below.

Buzzard Cult is from Atlanta with members Tyler Luker on Guitar and Lead Vox, Marcus Irick on drums, and Cody Landress-Gibson on Bass and Vox.



Follow Buzzard Cult to stay in the loop, and they've got shows lined up for the next few months so see them in you're in Atlanta or Chattanooga:

HEROD by o.d.r.a

Blues + doom + sludge is a combination of tags that should have you running to hit that PLAY button. Heavy doom with a rough edge and bluesy riffs is what you get on the new album HEROD from Poland's o.d.r.a. Check it out:


Track 5 "Chuj To Kojo" might be the most bluesy track on the album, so jump there if you want to hear where these guys lay down the doom with blues riffs.

There is some really incredible guitar work going on here. "Derby Heroda" is probably my favorite song on the album, and it includes a totally wild guitar solo.

The vocals are sludge so either that's your thing or it isn't. I dig them and they fit the music perfectly. There's a pain and anguish and that's where the music is at so the singing is a good fit. And the singing is in Polish which sounds great to me with this music. There's a lo-fi fuzzed-out effect to the singing that adds even more strain and edginess.

I'm a huge fan of albums which have a sonic flow from start to finish, and HEROD is all over that. Some of the tracks even blend right into each other with only a cut for the track times. This album takes you on an aural journey through various levels of darkness and the album is like a book with the chapters all in the right order. I had to keep checking the album page to see that I was now listening to a new song.


o.d.r.a. is from Wrocław, Poland. Members are:

Hudy Byk - vocal
Kobi - guitar
Świta - bass
Ziółko - drums

o.d.r.a. on Facebook

Codex Tenebris by OLDD WVRMS

Codex Tenebris offers nearly an hour of instrumental doom with some post metal edginess. All the tracks are long, the riffs are heavy, and the atmosphere is dark throughout. There is a blend of experimental and industrial going on here that keeps the sound fresh and interesting and involving, without getting away from the heaviness that drives the whole album. I really dig this.


"A l'or, aux ombres et aux abîmes" is the 2nd track (and the shortest at just over seven minutes) and it offers some of the best guitar work of the album. The riff picks up and then slows down again to switch up the pace of the doom, and ends with a relentless pounding before finishing with atmospheric effects.

Dig the very atmospheric video for the lead single "Ténèbres":


The third track "Misère & Corde" might have the most post metal sound to it with plenty of breaks and changes in tempo, and when the guitar solo kicks in to deliver the darkness, it just fits right in. This isn't really the kind of album that lets itself drift into the background. It insists on keeping your attention and rewards you with a variety of dark sounds.

Next to last is "La vallée des tombes" which is the slowest song on the album without losing your interest or the edginess that you hear throughout the album.

"Fléau est son âme" finishes things off with an epic 15 minutes that starts slow and moody and works its way through everything Oldd Wvrms has to offer, and gives a spoken word chant on top of that. This band really delivers.

One of the tags on the album's Bandcamp page is "ritual ambient" and while I think these songs are a little heavy for ambient, there is something about that tag which really works for me. Here is how the band describes their sound:

« Fear is the price for imagination » : these words can describe the descent into the depths of this overwhelming instrumental landscape, drawing his inspiration from all things obscure... Feel the serpent crawl upon your flesh and embrace the haunting emptiness within.

Oli : Bass, Cho : Drums, Ben : Guitar

Codex Tenebris by OLDD WVRMS is on Cursed Monk Records where you can grab the CD.

Cacería

Chile should need no introduction in the world of stoner music but if "hardcore" has you wondering what is up, let's start off with how much I dig this debut album from Cacería. This is stoner metal that picks up the speed to boost it into hardcore and these guys deliver a heavy, fast album that blasts from the very start to the very end. The fast fuzzy guitar sound, the heavy bass, the non-stop gunfire of the drums, and it's all covered with touch vocals. Check out Cacería:

"Guillotina" starts off the EP with an all-instrumental kick in the face. This song starts fast, gets faster, and just rips from beginning to end.

"Comando" doesn't let up, except with a little break at the beginning to lay down a sample. I have no idea what is being said and who cares anyway? When this song gets going with its heavy riffing, you won't care either. And this is the song that starts in with the vocals and what a perfect match for the music. I'm not sure if "hardcore" can be applied to vocals, but the gritty heavy and near-screaming of the vocals is exactly what this music demands. This song also delivers a killer guitar solo.

"Deep Groove" delivers exactly what is claims to: a deep, heavy riff that speeds up without losing any of its brain-bruising heaviness.

"Paranoia" has my favorite guitar work on the album, and "Pantanal" might be my favorite track on the album (and with my favorite sample), but they are all solid and overall all this is a a great debut EP.

You get 5 tracks on this EP, and it wraps up in under 20 minutes, and I can tell you I have listened to this album many, many times over the past few months. I just set it on repeat and listen to it an hour at a time.


I dig Cacería so much that I invited them to lay down a track on my next 100% stoner comp and you will dig how heavy this album turned out! Follow me on Bandcamp to get the comp when it drops in early September!

Another band to check out if you dig South American hardcore is Halfaya from Argentina.

And follow Cacería at:

Hunting Day by Psiconauta

Man how I love it when a band I never heard of just shoots me an email and says, Hey check us out! and they are as good as sludge metal duo PSICONAUTA from Brazil. Their 2-track EP is HUNTING DAY with the first track in English and the second track in Portuguese. Both songs have the fuzzy heavy slow, relentless and unending sonic punishment that I love to hear. Check them out!

Psiconauta

Hopefully these heavy fuzz masters will drop a track on my next comp, what do you think? BRASIL IN FUZZ drops at the end of the month and it is EPIC! Already over FIVE HOURS of heavy music only from Brazilian bands. Dig it right there.


You already know that Fuzzy loves sticks & strings duo bands, right? Cuz I made a whole comp of their songs earlier this year! Check out STICKS & STRINGS VOL. 1 on Bandcamp and it's FREE to stream or download! Right on!!

Sticks & Strings Vol. 1 music compilation on Bandcamp

Ovu Cuzido is (left to right) Ziq (drums), Serginho (bass), Juliano (guitar, backing vocals), Caio (vocals)

Ovu Cuzido was born in mid-2000 in the Sao Paulo's interior countryside when the brothers Caio and Mauricio decided to shake the place to the ground! With punk / hardcore influences Ovu Cuzido released their first demo in the 2006 "Infernal Marmitex" (Infernal Packed Lunch), always with aggressive riffs and lyrics against the system the songs are always a real stoned in the ear. Ovu Cuzido becomes a symbol of the Punk/Hardcore movement and has been doing a quality song for over a decade.

BRASIL IN FUZZ drops August 31

King Cig - Creatures of Habit

King Cig is the stoner doom punk 4-piece from Melbourne (a city that needs no introduction for punks) that you'll remember had a song "Anxiety Machine" on my Opium Warlock's Dungeon of Darkness comp a while back. Now they are ready to unleash a 5-track EP with the same fuzzy doom punk sound and this time it's got a monstrous theme to tie it all together. Take a listen to the lead single, "Swamp Thing":


The EP drops on August 30 with 5 tracks. It opens with "The Creature Below" a short instrumental that sets the heavy doom mood perfectly for the rest of the EP. Then things get downright demonic with "Alpine Terror" with the punk vocals and dark lyrics, and some great psychedelic guitar work.

"Tomb Dweller" is the middle track. More of the heavy but fast-moving doom, and the vocals kick it up with dueling voices to drive home the satanic lyrics.

"Swamp Thing" is a good example where the guitar solo really explodes and this is on a couple of the other songs too.

"Thundertree" wraps it up with a bang, and this might be my favorite song. Pretty epic for a 4 minute song. You are in for a treat on August 30.

There is so much going on here that I was surprised when I checked the time and found the whole thing wraps up in 20 minutes. There's enough sonic mayhem on this to fill a full-sized album. Maybe two.

Besides the ghoulish theme, another thing that ties the songs together is the way they lead from one song into the next.

Every track on here is short and to the point. No slackers in this lineup. Fuzzy heavy stoner doom with punk vocals from start to finish. Be sure to follow King Cig so you can find out when CREATURES OF HABIT drops on August 30 -- links below.


King Cig in their own words:

Stoner/Doom/Punks from Melbourne. New EP Creatures of Habits’ has an over arching theme is of monsters, ghouls and creatures of the night. With tracks like “Swamp Thing” and “Tomb Dweller” it may seem like a monster manual on the surface but may very well be a metaphor for demons much more sinister.

WIZENED TREE debut EP "Rock N Roll from Tocantins"

WIZENED TREE just released their debut EP and if you love stoner rock with killer vocals then you are going to love ROCK N ROLL FROM TOCANTINS!! This is 5 tracks of hard rocking, bluesy, good ol' rock & roll which will get you moving and put a smile on your face. I've got a band interview below and also take a listen:


Rock N Roll from Tocantins opens with GIVE THE RAIN and this song is really everything that I love about Wizened Tree. Catchy riff, groovy bass line, killer vocals and chorus, and a flat-out bluesy rocker without turning into a pop song. Wizened Tree keeps it lively without forgetting their heavy "roots."

Next up is GIVE ME ALCOHOL with a little slower sound but still a rocker. These guys like having a good time which is exactly what this music is all about. Grab a beer, start a party, and turn up the volume on Wizened Tree!

Things get a little heavier with PRINCESS OF THE DESERT and CAN'T TAKE MY HAT OFF, and STOR JEGER wraps it up in style. This is a really good stoner rock EP and a great debut album.

Photo: Daniela Jacome

In fact, I love their music so much that I asked Wizened Tree to join me and the other heavy bands in The Swamp. Welcome to The Swamp, Wizened Tree! (and BTW, you can get in The Swamp, too! You'll get free music every month, and in September I start mailing out a CD every month to my supporters! Check out The Swamp Krewe here!)

And it's not just me -- check out some of the great comments showing up on their album page:

The band nailed it: “Pure rock n roll spirit, tuned down and slow.” The band has that sense of grove and “catchiness” that I think is common to a lot of the Brazilian music I’ve been hearing too. Great stuff…! Favorite track: Princess of the Desert.

I joined Fuzzy's swamp crewe long ago when he said besides the compilations we'd be getting albums added to our collection monthly also. I just didn't know they'd be of this quality. This is good stuff man. Favorite track: Princess of the Desert.

Wizened Tree is: (left to right) Felipe Marinho (bass), Artur Pery (front; vocals and guitar solo), Davi Pery (rear; drums), Douglas Vilela (lead guitar) Photo: Edu Barroso

Next month you can buy The Swamp Special Edition CD with a bonus track! Head over to Wizened Tree's album page to follow them and find out when the CD is ready for pre-order.

BRASIL IN FUZZ 2019

My digital compilation BRASIL IN FUZZ 2019 is out on August 31 and you will find BRING THE RAIN on there along with over FOUR HOURS of heavy stoner, doom, psych (and more!) music from the best of Brasil's underground scene.

Follow me on Bandcamp to get the entire comp FREE when it drops August 31!


In Brazil, you can hear Wizened Tree on Avoreseca and Abraxas.

Wizened Tree took some time for an interview:

FUZZY CRACKLINS: Where is Wizened Tree from?

We are from Palmas, Tocantins in Brazil. Palmas is at the exact center of the country! And so we have a marker for the geodesic location and we say we are from "The Heart of Brazil."

FUZZY CRACKLINS: How did the band get together?

FELIPE (the bass player): In 2014, I went to live one year in Norway. When I came back in 2015, the guys from Wizened Tree (it wasn’t Wizened Tree at the time) were rehearsing to play some songs in bars/pubs. They didn’t have their own compositions. And beside this, they were changing places to play each songs. Everyone was drummer, bass player, guitarist and vocalist. It was cool, but wasn’t solid. So when I got back to Palmas, I was a bass player already, from other band. But the singer went to live abroad as well. So I was a bass player with no band. So one day, Artur, Douglas and Davi went to rehearse and I came along. There we played some songs, but when we jammed “behind the wall of sleep” from Black Sabbath, we got a feeling. From that jam until today, we play in the same formation. Artur (Guitar solo/Vocals), Douglas (Lead Guitar), Davi (drums) and me (bass). And we formed Wizened Tree. We decided to make our own compositions of heavy rock, psychedelic rock, stoner rock and blues rock.

The wizened tree

FUZZY CRACKLINS: What does "Wizened Tree" mean?

Our first studio has a tree that it grows from inside to outside. Crossing the wall. And this studio was located across the lake of Palmas, outside of the city, in a desert region. No neighbors, just nature around. So our rehearses were full of alcohol, drugs, alcohol, noise and alcohol. A lot of inspirations there. And there we made most of our songs. Nowdays the place exists, but there is some people living there, and it is no longer a studio. But the Tree (Wizened Tree) still growing there, every day, breaking the wall of that place.

FUZZY CRACKLINS: What is coming up for Wizened Tree?

Next month we will hit the stage, and we will play all around again to bring elsewhere the rock n roll from our young city which has given us so many inspirations. 

FUZZY CRACKLINS: Thank you guys! And remember to follow Wizened Tree on Bandcamp to get their news!

HALFAYA S/T

HALFAYA blasts onto the the heavy music scene with a sound they describe as "weedcore" which I describe as fuzzy metal played faster than your typical stoner music without losing the heavy bass with the same effect -- to pound your medicated brain. And I dig it! Man, I dig this album! High energy, fuzz, killer vocals .... what more do you want? Check it out!


The album blasts out of the gate with the slow-burning and then exploding instrumental track "El Paso De Halfaya", but no worries if you miss the singing, because the next track cranks it up even higher with vocals. I love how "Vienen Por Vos" continues right on from the first track. I dig it so much it will be included on my Ultimate Summer Stoner com dropping at the end of August -- right on! Be sure to follow me on Bandcamp to get a download code to the comp when it drops.

Did you notice the vocals are in Spanish? The language of stoner music? Which makes this album even better. To say these guys are from Argentina is to state the obvious.

This whole album plays out like a long song in the way the sound flows so well. Like a fast-moving flow of molten lava, or a non-stop fireworks show. It slows down here and there, and just enough to keep pounding away at you with the guitar making fast knife attacks while the bass is dealing the body blows.

So now you know what "weedcore" is and let's hope for more of it from HALFAYA.


Photos:
@tania.integrity
@pablodegorostiza