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Ecstatic Vision – Raw Rock Fury
When told that a band pride themselves in being part of the psychedelic rock scene, certain images come to mind almost instantly; from acid to colourful retro art to funky sunglasses – the point being, this is a scene very much rooted in the past and an era almost incomprehensible to some.Continue reading
Ecstatic Vision Shares New Song- You Got It- Or You Don’t, Readies New Album
Philadelphia bred heavy rockers Ecstatic Vision are releasing a new album Raw Rock Fury via Relapse Records on April 7th. You can hear the first single ‘You Got It (Or You Don’t)’ below:Continue reading
Ecstatic Vision – Sonic Praise
There used to be an old gag doing the rounds of bars and clubs. It went a bit like this: “I see that Rollin’ Stones guitarist Keith Richards has joined the campaign against hard drug use. Don’t do drugs, says Keith. We can’t mate: you’ve done them all!” Mick Jagger’s partner in crime might have captured the public’s imagination for the debate on whether the drugs don’t work or not but Philadelphia’s Ecstatic Vision could run Mr. Richards a close second if their psychedelic and psychotropic opus, Sonic Praise (Relapse) is anything to go by.
Sonic Praise is both discombobulating and eerily familiar, often simultaneously. As heavy as Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer but allied with the same existential weirdness and trippiness of Hawkwind or the krautrock of Amon Duul ii, this five track EP is best played at night with the lights down very low, the red wine glass filled to the brim and the mind cleared of all daily grind so you can immerse yourself in its multi-layered, joyous cacophony.
There is an existential acid trip put to music on the opening track ‘Journey’ where lead vocalist Doug Sabolick doffs his proverbial cap to Lemmy Kilminster and his talented co-members conjure a playful, head nodding and head scratching wall of simply splendiferous noise. ‘Journey’ bleeds into ‘Astral Plane’ which, with its bongo solos opening suggests a hippier version of The Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ before it veers off in a more druggy, hazy direction, metaphorically dousing us in gallons of patchouli oil, offering us copious hits from a doubtless gigantic bong and wondering, if this really is the end of the world, whether we can have a bit of a love in before we depart this mortal coil.
Well, something like that anyway.
At five minutes in length, ‘Don’t Kill the Vibe’ feels like an extended coda to the epic nature of his predecessor, a long encore of LSD influenced pleading for the party to never end; it’s a compelling invocation, hard to resist. The title track soons follows, its swirling rhythms and melodies playful and evocative; of times past, places yet to visit, replete with substances for bending the mind and body. It’s a bit of a percussion masterclass for drummer Jordan Crouse who manages to keep a sterling and passionate rhythm going in amongst the deep and often bewildering sounds conjured by his fellow musicians. ‘Cross the Divide’ brings matters to a suitably endearing and psychedelic close, an effective distillation of the themes and tones of the rest of the record: it’s hypnotic, quixotic and exotic. Try saying that after a couple of glasses of your favourite tipple.
One of the eternally heartwarming facets of the heavy metal community is its understanding of its own history and tropes. Whether knowingly atavistic or determinedly reverential, the shock of the new is often co-joined by a warm blanket of the old. Ecstatic Vision know their history, but this is history imbued with reverence and respect. Sonic Praise is delivered with panache, guile and inventiveness.
The drugs do work, after all.
8.0/10
MAT DAVIES
Audio: Ecstatic Vision – Don’t Kill The Vibe
Philadelphia psychedelic rockers Ecstatic Vision is streaming “Don’t Kill The Vibe,” off of their forthcoming album Sonic Praise, out June 30, 2015 via Relapse Records. Recorded at various studios throughout Philadelphia, the group’s debut is an acid-tinged mix of trance inducing, primitive African tribal and heavy psych a la Hawkwind, Goat and Amon Düül II.
01: Journey
02: Astral Plane
03: Don’t Kill The Vibe
04: Sonic Praise
05: Cross The Divide
Enslaved – YOB – Ecstatic Vision: Live at The Sinclair, Cambridge MA
Not much in this life beats seeing some great bands play live, except for when you see great bands play live and it is the last stop on the tour. On March 24th in front of an eager Cambridge crowd at The Sinclair, Ecstatic Vision, YOB, and Enslaved brought forth a memorable show to close out the first quarter of the year. For me, I had never heard/listened to Ecstatic Vision, only recently started listening to YOB after they were announced for Maryland Deathfest 2015, and have become a big Enslaved fan over the years. To top it all off, this was the final stop on the tour and was curious to see what sort of shenanigans or special moments could occur. To be honest, I still can’t believe some of the things I saw and how ‘Isa’ by Enslaved is now ruined for me forever (in a good way of course).
Ecstatic Vision, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography
To start off the night on what turned out to be a great note, Ecstatic Vision rocked out and certainly made a vast amount of new fans in Cambridge, MA. The entire set I tried to place what I was listening to, and the best description I could come up with was Deep Purple with Rob Zombie during the White Zombie era on vocals. Naturally, this combination got me excited from the start of the set and straight through until the house lights came on. In a strange moment during one of the epic tracks in the set, Enslaved’s own Grutle Kjellson (lead vocals/bass) and Herbrand Larsen (keyboards, synthesizer, clean vocals) appears on stage to provide some manly hugs to the guys in Ecstatic Vision. Strangest of all was Grutle walking around in a t-shirt and his underwear. Due up next, doom titans, YOB.
Yob, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography
Having only got around to really listening to the latest album from YOB and a select few other tracks, I had high hopes for their live performance. I am happy to say that my high hopes were met, and then some. Given the length of the available set time and the average length of a YOB song, I was not anticipating anymore than a few songs and more than likely one or two off the latest album. Turned out they played a total of four tracks, three of which came off of the new album. The set kicked off with ‘In Our Blood’ which shook the very foundation of The Sinclair and the souls of its guests. In a surprise turn of events, Grutle made his way out to center stage again where a spare microphone was waiting for him as he provided guest vocals for ‘Nothing To Win.’ This would not be the end of Enslaved’s appearances as Grutle, Herbrand, and the rest of the crew would come out and provide more manly hugs to the guys from YOB. It appeared YOB may have been done after just three songs, but Mike Scheidt announced they had time for one last song, ‘Burning the Altar.’ The threesome from Oregon had absolutely blown me away with their live stage presence and I am more than excited to catch them again at MDF this year!
YOB and Enslaved, Photo by Hillarie Jason PhotographyAt long last, it was time for Enslaved to return to the stage, but actually play some music rather than provide comic relief. The set list from the long time extreme metal favorites was obviously in support of their latest release, In Times (Nuclear Blast), so a couple or so songs could be expected and then a few other songs sprinkled in. Off of the new album, the Cambridge audience got to hear ‘Thurisaz Dreaming’, ‘Building With Fire’, and the album title track, ‘In Times.’ On top of that, the set included a track from 8 other albums such as: Axioma Ethica Odini, Below the Lights, Frost, RIITIIR, and Ruun! Normally when I order a flight, I expect a couple of sample size beers for tasting. However, Enslaved truly put on a flight of their catalog for fans both new and old. Personally, I really enjoyed hearing some of the older tracks such as ‘The Watcher’ and ‘Fenris’. In case there was any question, yes, Grutle’s in between song banter and jokes were present and as funny as ever. Always nice to know that some bands out there today can still play some great heavy metal, but can avoid taking themselves so seriously and just have a good time. As most of the Enslaved fans could guess, the set ended with fan favorite ‘Isa’. However, the joke was on Enslaved at this point as members from both YOB and Ecstatic Vision rushed the stage playing pretending to play instruments unplugged. Also, and most notably, some members of the band and road crew were holding pieces of cardboard that looked to spell ‘Iza’ or someone had difficulty drawing the letter S. Then another Z came out, and then a P. Just when I realized that they had spelled out “pizza” (which is all I can hear now during said song now) some ladies from the merch tables came out on stage and started handing out pieces of pizza out to the crowd! This was certainly a first for me and I am not sure I will ever see anything like that again.
Enslaved, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography Enslaved, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography
Enslaved with YOB and Ecstatic Vision, Photo by Hillarie Jason Photography
It just goes to show you that not much can beat an Enslaved show, regardless of who comes with them. However, on this specific tour, I think the selection of support bands were damn near flawless. Also, I wanted to quickly mention my ever growing love for The Sinclair venue. I have been to this venue now for a handful of shows and the staff is always friendly, lighting/sound is perfect, and just the overall atmosphere just seems to really click. As for Enslaved, YOB, and Ecstatic Vision, I think the rest of the heavy metal world has a lot to cover at this point to bring such a diverse but entertaining group of bands together for a tour.
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WORDS BY TIM LEDIN
PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON PHOTOGRAPHY
Climb Into Ourselves – Mike Scheidt of YOB Talks Touring
Doom metal lords YOB have hit the road on a tour of the US, continuing to tour behind last year’s astounding Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot) release. Ghost Cult Chief Editor Keith Chachkes caught up with front man Mike Scheidt recently to preview the tour with Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision and Witch Mountain. Mike also chatted about touring in general opening for Tool in arenas versus small clubs.
Mike started our chat with some kind words about Enslaved and his being a fan of theirs:
“I’ve listened to Enslaved… I think the first album was Eld (Osmose), the first full-length album. I did have an Emperor/Enslaved album on CD as well. Over the years they have changed on pretty much every record. I am a big fan. My favorite is Monumension, and Below the Lights and Eld still hold a real candle for me. Mardraum (Beyond The Within) too. We are definitely fans of them. We got to see them one time at Roadburn, which was mind-bogglingly good. So just being able to go out with them is an honor for sure.”
Witch Mountain, playing a western US run of dates with YOB, holds a special place for Schiedt from a personal and professional standpoint.
“We’ve probably played with Witch Mountain 40 or 50 times. Our very first Portland show YOB ever played was with Witch Mountain played. So we have very old roots there. And their drummer Nathan Carson owns Nanotear Booking, and he has been booking us for the better part of 10 years too.”
Speaking about the coast-to coast spanning tour of North America, he was reflecting on the cities and people: “We have a lot of friends all over the place. I think in most places we are playing we have people we are stoked about seeing, as well as playing for all the people coming to see us, and making new friends, of course. Los Angeles, we have a lot of friends down there. Same with Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia. Vancouver. Chicago, we have a lot of friends in Chicago. We haven’t played Boston in a while so it will be great to play there again. We have a lot of good friends in Little Rock Arkansas, and Austin too. We haven’t been to Toronto or Montreal since 2011, so it’s gonna be great to go there. I don’t think there is one city we aren’t really excited about on this tour.”
Speaking about the challenges of touring, Mike offered up this assessment of YOB’s time opening for Tool.
“We toured with Tool for two weeks, and that was kind of like jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute every night. Still, we just approached it… our view of it was “these guys picked us”. Some of those guys are our friends too, and they picked us for a reason. So we totally just threw every calorie of energy into our set. Arms raised, screaming. Instead of a 500 person club, it was a 20,000 person arena. We didn’t change anything about what we do. It just takes a little bit longer to connect with the room, that’s it. We were ready to be booed every night. We didn’t get booed, but I think some people were clapping that we were getting off stage! (laughs) It was just a crazy scenario to accept that we would even be in a place like that. But who knows?”
“We’re getting ready to go out with Enslaved, and some of their crowd is, I’m sure, not our crowd. The work of the band is two-fold. Of course we want to be received well. It’s also personal work. There’s stuff that we do, and stuff that we do for ourselves. It’s a discipline. We climb onto the stage and climb into ourselves. We climb into us and we let the music take us where it takes us. We want to share that with anyone who wants to come on that ride. Whatever happens is fine. We have no control over that. All we can be is ourselves.”
WORDS BY KEITH CHACHKES
YOB Releases Tour Schedule Supporting Enslaved on North American Tour
YOB will be taking part on the upcoming Enslaved North American tour alongside Ecstatic Vision on select dates. They will be touring in support of their critically-fawned upon Clearing The Path To Ascend full-length, released early last Fall via Neurot Recordings, which was recorded at Gung Ho Studio in Eugene alongside longtime YOB comrade/iconic sound wizard, Billy Barnett and mastered by Brad Boatright (Sleep, Beastmilk, Nails) at Audiosiege. Confirmed dates are posted below.
YOB North American Tour 2015:
Mar 04: Press Club – Sacramento, CA (w/ Will Haven)
Mar 05: Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 06: El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 07: Slim’s – San Francisco, CA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 09: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 10: Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver BC (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 11: El Corazon – Seattle, WA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 13: Bar Deluxe – Salt Lake City, UT (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 14: Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 16: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 17: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 19: Opera House – Toronto, ON (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 20: Les Foufounes Électriques – Montreal, QC (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 21: Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 22: Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 23: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 24: Sinclair – Boston, MA (w/ Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision)
Mar 26: King’s Barcade – Raleigh, NC (w/ Witch Mountain)
Mar 27: The Hideaway – Johnson City, TN (w/ Witch Mountain)
Mar 28: The Earl – Atlanta, GA (w/ Witch Mountain)
Mar 29: Hi-Tone – Memphis, TN (w/ Witch Mountain)
Mar 30: Siberia – New Orleans, LA (w/ Witch Mountain)
Mar 31: Walter’s – Houston, TX (w/ Witch Mountain)
Apr 01: Red 7 – Austin, TX (w/ Witch Mountain)
Apr 03: Launch Pad – Albuquerque, NM (w/ Witch Mountain)
Apr 04: The Flycatcher – Tucson, AZ (w/ Witch Mountain)
Enslaved, YOB and Ecstatic Vision Book North American Tour
Enslaved, YOB and Ecstatic Vision will be touring North America together in March. Enslaved’s new album In Times will be released March 10, 2015.
Mar 05: Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
Mar 06: El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
Mar 07: Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
Mar 09: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Mar 10: Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver BC
Mar 11: El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Mar 13: Bar Deluxe – Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 14: Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
Mar 16: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Mar 17: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Mar 19: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Mar 20: Les Foufounes Électriques – Montreal, QC
Mar 21: Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
Mar 22: Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
Mar 23: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Mar 24: Sinclair – Boston, MA