Tag: space rock

THE HEADLESS — Another Cloth & Cast Into the Firmament

by desertrockunited3960, posted in Music Reviews

Origins: Cosmic Ambition in Rust Belt Reality

Flint isn’t exactly known for cosmic rock epics, but The Headless treat geography like a suggestion. Andy Lenox and Gary Behling build towering, atmospheric guitar layers that feel like they’re trying to terraform the Midwest. Phil Danne’s bass is the gravitational anchor, and Jay Gauthier’s drums hit with the force of a meteor strike.

They’re a space‑rock and alt‑metal band, sure — but that’s just the scaffolding. The real magic is the theatrical streak running through everything they do. Their songs feel like Jim Steinman writing a single for Alice in Chains, or a Boston × Baroness crossover that somehow makes perfect sense once you hear it.

The Sound: Grunge Bones, Cosmic Flesh, Theatrical Blood

The Headless pull from grunge’s emotional weight, early‑aughts alt‑metal’s muscular riffing, and the over‑the‑top drama of classic rock. The result is a sound that’s heavy, melodic, atmospheric, and unapologetically huge.

  • Space‑rock atmosphere — shimmering guitars, cosmic keys, and wide‑open sonic landscapes
  • Alt‑metal muscle — thick riffs, punchy rhythms, and choruses built like fortresses
  • Grunge grit — emotional weight, raw textures, and unvarnished honesty
  • Theatrical rock excess — big hooks, dramatic builds, and arrangements that feel like scenes

It’s music that wants to be felt, not just heard.

Single Spotlight: “Another Cloth”

“Another Cloth” is the band’s mission statement in miniature. It opens with a shimmering, celestial haze before the guitars crash in like a wave hitting a cliff. Andy’s vocals soar — not in a delicate, indie‑rock way, but in a “aiming for the cheap seats” way. The chorus is massive, triumphant, and uplifting.

It’s the kind of song that feels like a launch sequence, the moment a rocket shakes off gravity and decides it’s done with Earth.

Single Spotlight: “Cast Into the Firmament”

If “Another Cloth” is the ascent, “Cast Into the Firmament” is the moment the ship breaks atmosphere and sees the stars. It’s darker, heavier, and more theatrical. The riffs hit with early‑aughts alt‑metal weight, but the arrangement is pure cosmic opera — layered guitars, atmospheric keys, and drums that sound like they’re trying to punch through the stratosphere. The chorus is huge, like a space‑rock sermon delivered from a burning pulpit.

What Comes Next

Two singles in, The Headless already sound like a band too big for the room they’re playing in. They plan to keep releasing singles through fall and winter, building momentum toward a full album next year. If they maintain this trajectory, they’re poised to become one of those rare underground bands whose sound feels mythic — a cult favorite waiting to be discovered by the masses.

Andy Lenox — vocals, guitar, keys, production, visuals
Gary Behling — guitar, vocals, keys
Phil Danne — bass
Jay Gauthier — drums, photography, video

https://theheadless.bandcamp.com/

Onioroshi – Shrine

by desertrockunited3960, posted in Music Reviews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background of the Band 

Onioroshi is a progressive-psych power trio hailing from Cervia, Italy. The three members of Onioroshi met for the first time in early 2014 during the Kimono Lights project, a dreampop-shoegaze independent band which recorded 2 LPs and an EP in three years and played in venues around Italy. In early 2018 Kimono Lights called it quits and soon after Onioroshi was formed and their debut album Beyond These Mountains was created.

While the band was trying to find its place in the music industry the pandemic struck the world of music and forced them to change their plans. In early 2020 Onioroshi started working on a new LP, investing the next three years into creating music with passion and a new sonic direction. The new LP “Shrine” is the result of this meticulous work of sound and structured research, with the three musicians searching for ways beyond limits, trying to create a completely new experience for the listener. Similar to their debut album, their second LP was recorded, mixed and mastered at Dunastudio by Andrea Scardovi.

Introduction to Onioroshi’s “Shrine”

Lasting 54 minutes while featuring 3 tracks focusing various sound layers, shifting time signatures, auditory dynamics.

Musical Style and Influences

A blend of experimental, psychedelic, noise rock and progressive riffing that creates an immersive auditory trip through the vastness of space and time. According to the band, “We like mind trips, odd times, drowning in noise and partial darkness.” Fans of desert denizens Big Scenic Nowhere will most likely enjoy this release as there are long psychedelic passages, many guitar riffs/solos with various phase, reverb and delay effects.

Track Analysis

Opening Track: “Pyramid”

Opening up with a clean flanger/phase guitar line with heavy reverb played various times with crashing cymbals with a rumbling distorted bass line. At around 4 minutes in the vocals begin with an up-tempo noise rock vibe until the vocals become more aggressive with drummer Enrico Piraccini forcing the issue with crashing cymbals and drum fills working to create a wall of sound. At 5:50 the time signature shifts to a heavy arpeggio riff and then shifting again the music stops entirely with a distorted bass line coming in with the phase effected guitar line and various tom fills and aggressive vocals to bring up the intensity again. The band really enjoys dynamics with calm slow passages building to massive and aggressive crescendos.

Opening Track: “Laborintus”

At 15 minutes this is the shortest track of the album. The track gets started right away with a treble sounding bass line with and lead guitar line with high pitched vocals leading to a phaser effect washing over the track which morphs into dark aggressive vocals and the familiar crashing cymbal fills. The vocal in this section has some similarity to Tomahawk era Mike Patton. As the track moves along the vocals become more ethereal with an underlying synth taking center stage. With this section starting around 9 minutes in the band moves in a more melodic way that give way to the outgoing section of guitar solos and driving rhythms until the track closes out.

Closing Track: “Egg”

Album closer begins with the heaviest riff of the release with a crunching guitar riff with the vocals a little more out in front and more direct than other sections during the album.
Ay 2 minutes in a wave of phaser effects and tom drum fills take center stage. Next the music starts to fade out and starts up again with a repetitive reverb heavy guitar line and haunting vocals along with distorted bass notes play in the background. At approximately the 11 minutes in the band ups the intensity with a driving drum beat and propulsive bass layered with a driving reverb heavy guitar riff. At 15 minutes in a long passage with a guitar solo takes over with drummer Piraccini using his China cymbal as a crash and beating it into submission. As this is the longest track on the album with various movement of sonic bombast, at the end you may want to take a break to ground yourself and return to sanity!

Track List

1.Pyramid-18:19

2.Laborintus-15:36

3. Egg-20:32

Manuel Fabbri: Bass, Vocals
Enrico Piraccini: Drums, Vocals
Matteo Sama: Guitar

https://onioroshi.bandcamp.com/

Zoltar – Bury

by desertrockunited3960, posted in Music Reviews

Zoltar is a down to earth stoner metal trio from three cities in Sweden: Gothenburg, Uppsala and Östersund. Starting out as a local riff-o-rama-project in East coastal city of Uppsala just before the start of the COVID pandemic, soon the project turned into something too good to disappear into nothingness, the two founding members called for sibling backup and Kara Kusack joined to complete the lineup.

Shortly after completing the trio lineup, the two first tracks were produced, the vocals recorded and sent from the West coast of Sweden, all the composing and communication done via file transfer and digital means. In under two months the bands first two tracks were released independently; presenting fuzz grinding guitars partnered with fierce female vocals and anthemic choruses.

Striving for a genuine, distorted rock sound with a fresh context, the trio brings in elements from Black Sabbath and Kyuss as well as more sludge metal acts like Melvins and Red Fang with some overtones of early 90’s Olympia, Washington grunge. Zoltar brings you a punchy and powerful vibe to get your juices going. With influences rooted in punk, death, and rock ‘n roll Zoltar’s brand of dark stoner influenced jams have a pragmatic and powerful sound with loads of energy. The songs with synth bring a space rock element and along with Kara Kusack’s vocal range and different stylings there is a lot to like with the jams.

Th most recent track released August 18th, “Bury”, according to bassist and vocalist Kara Kusack was inspired by and a tribute to former Entombed singer (R.I.P) Lars-Göran Petrov. With a distorted phaser guitar line and a gravely growling vocal and a heavy anvil powered drum groove you can’t help but feel ready to rock. About three minutes in there is a synth solo before going back to the verse and makes for a really interesting transition.

There are some recent tracks available to listen to here and more music is on the way in the near future. Check out an interview with Kara Kusack for more band info and stay tuned!

Lineup:
Kara Kusack, Vocals, Bass, Synth
Crille Lampa, Guitar
Patrik, Drums

UFO over Lappland Interview

by desertrockunited3960, posted in Interviews

DRU: Who decided on the band name and how did it come about?

UOL: Our bass player came up with the idea, it’s a reference to a small Swedish sci-fi movie from 1959, also refers to a record by a local psychedelic rock band that made a record called “Flying saucers over Lappland” Our new record “Spökraketer” also refers to unknown objects that have been seen over the very huge areas up in Lappland, where there’s almost no people, just huge areas of forests and mountains.

DRU: Who are your biggest influences?

UOL: I think we in the band have different influences and it also changes all the time, but stuff that we all like is for example Neu, Faust, Hawkwind and I also listen a lot to more “modern” post rock and minimal electronic drone/ambient stuff.

DRU: Any specific guitar player, bass player or drummer influences?

UOL: Christer, our bass player has always been a fan of Lemmy, Andreas (the drummer) likes Tool, I don’t think I can choose a guitarist, but I prefer those with a personal style and that can make weird sounds with guitars before perfectly playing.

DRU: What role does synth play in the band? Is it for textural elements to compliment the sound or more in front to complement the guitar lines?

UOL: It’s to complete the sound and also to add the extra “space feeling”.

DRU: How would you describe your sound? Do you hear any similarities to Kraftwerk as is often mentioned?

UOL: I say that we play repetitive minimal psychedelic rock with influences from post-rock. I don’t see much similarities to Kraftwerk (has also seen that mention, we never mentioned them as inspiration, they are great, but not an influence, I guess it has to do with that Kraftwerk was a part of the early German kraut-rock scene).

DRU: How did the band form and come together?

UOL: Three of us was already playing together in a band called the magic lantern, some of us have been making music together in different constellations for more than twenty years now.

DRU: What’s your songwriting process?

UOL: Most of the times we just go down to the rehearsal space and jam, we record and listen and choose parts we like and then we work on those parts, add stuff or remove stuff, sometimes someone has a riff or a rhythm to start with but not always.

DRU: Best format? Vinyl records, cassettes, CDs or downloads? (Regardless of current popularity)

UOL: Vinyl, three of us are vinyl collectors, I also run a small tape label, so I like tapes too, but vinyl is like “the real thing”.

DRU: One or two artists/bands you would like to collaborate with.

UOL: If we could do something like that, I think it would be fun to make something with someone that does something completely different from what we do, like Joanna Newsome on harp or with Loscil (minimal electronics).

DRU: How has the natural environment in Northern Sweden influenced your sound if at all?

UOL: Hard to say, but I think out long dark winters sets us in another mood than if you’re living, we’re the sun is shining all of the year.

DRU: Any plans for an upcoming European tour?

UOL: No plans for touring right now.

DRU: Describe the Umea music scene, is it influenced by the local college and artists?

UOL: The musical scene in Umeå is diverse and living, the DIY scene is quite big and bands in different genres help each other to organize shows, but during the pandemic some places have been closed and some people have moved, but still have hope for the future and so many people here know that a living musical scene is something worth fighting for.

DRU: Is the recording process completed by sending files to each other or is everyone in the studio?

UOL: We were all together in the studio, most of the records are recorded live in the studio, with just some overdubs.

DRU: How has the band changed or not coming out of COVID now that most countries are open to live music again?

UOL: One of us have moved to another town quite far away and that makes it harder both to rehearse and to play live, but let’s just see what the future has to give.

DRU: Any social channels or band sites fans should check out for release, merchandise or tour information?

UOL: Where not too active here, but I try to update at Instagram @ufooverlappland and Facebook.com/ufooverlappland

Peace/Krister, guitars in UFO över Lappland.