Self Release

Id never ever heard of this man before, and when I put this CD on, my first thoughts were that he must originate from Louisiana – USA, as his French had a strange English sound.  But the I started gathering more information and found out he’s actually from Toronto – Canada, although he was born in Ontario. While not bringing us bad music, it’s funny to hear the lyrics, if you’re used to hear regular French.  The music itself, well, it has a bit of Cheap Trick in it I guess, but also other influences.

Moanaa are a Polish act, formed at the end of last decade at the city of Bielsko – Biała. Especially in their local scene, they gained quite some success, and Moanaa were able to play live on stage with known acts such as Nachtmystium, Jarboe, Blindead or At The Soundawn.

Onkel Hryum are a side-project of Grobut Neerg members Yuri and Anton, and known from their 2013-EP Захребетник especially. Apparently last year the duo did record and a release a digital track as teaser for their upcoming full length, which is smartly called Ragnaroll. Based on that title, I sort of detected a word-play of ‘Ragnarok’ and ‘roll’, bringing heathen thoughts to mind at the one hand, and a rock’n’roll-y attitude at the other.

The Canadian Million Dollar Fix is yet another one of those classic stoner rock bands that is neither great nor terrible. While MDF pull of reasonably decent up tempo groovin’ matched with a very crunchy rhythm section, it's the vocals that entirely ruin it for me. Now if the music was more remarkable, I might be able to force myself to tone out the vocals, but unfortunately, the 4-track EP is only so-so and singing is too much at the forefront.

Heavy sludge metal a la Nightstick, Electric Wizard, Sleep, EyeHateGod and In the Company of Serpents from this NY trio on this 6-song outing, as the majority of the music on We Are Here lies buried under a powerful onslaught of gritty vocals and a treacherous stomp of beats. From the opener of “Amnesia” through “Colombus” and “Seven” the band seems to create an honest and raw take on.