Band history of doom band Nest speaks of hope

Making music has never been easy. And in fact it still is like this these days. I cannot understand some people saying making music is free. It's not. You need to buy equipment, you need a rehearsal space (a lot of bands need to pay a rent for that) and in the end you need to make a record and promote it with a decent video. Everyone of these steps (and some more) needs to be backed finacially. Plus in the end you can never know if the people out there will like and buy your stuff.

But there are also signs of hope out there in the darkness. One is the story of the doom/sludge three-piece called Nest situated in Stockholm, Sweden. Read below how things went out for them and listen to their full record in the stream below.

It started in 2011 with two brothers, Fredrik & Jonas, and a riff. The riff is key, for it carries the song, driven only by understated and economical drumming. For this the band  needed the right drummer, but good drummers are few and far apart. The brothers happened upon a Frenchman named Dave, a drummer with death metal roots that brought that extra something to the fold. Nest was now a three piece. A band. The idea came to life and the riff became a song.

(c) by Nest, used with kind permission

A couple of riffs later, the songs became a set, and Nest played their first show at a bar called Snövit, known to play host to punk shows. People seemed to like it.

When the time came to record their songs, they knew that the heaviness was there but wanted to capture the raw nerve of the punk influences that might get lost in hazy riffs. They turned to their friend Mattis Rundgren (Makabert Fynd/Dissekerad/Kakafoni) for the recording. The result is the self-titled debut, released in 2015.

The band was now faced with a new problem: how to get that recording out into the world. Nest opted for a DIY approach, pressing CDs and selling them themselves, in hopes that they could sell enough to afford a vinyl pressing.

At a bar in Tilburg, Holland, during the Roadburn festival, Fredrik and Jonas met up with their dear friends, Craig and Andrew, from the new country across the sea, Since they, too, worship at the altar of the riff, they were given CDs and t-shirts. The words spoken after that went something like this:

Craig: So when do I get to hear this on vinyl?
Fredrik: When we've sold enough CDs and shirts to afford it.
Craig: If I start a label, would you consider letting me release it?
Fredrik: Yes. That would be awesome!

Not long after that Tribunal of the Axe Records was born, and the record was pressed.

If you'd like to purchase a copy on vinyl just head over to the Bandcamp page and get one of the limited physical releases or the digital version.

What I like in the band's sound so much is that they keep things raw and direct. It's not that much polished and it's kept simple and straight forward. If you like bands like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard and the like I think you'll love this.

Make sure to stay in connection with Nest through their Facebook page or have a look at the label that helped them to do the vinyl pressing - here's the link to Tribunal of the Axe Records Facebook site.

CD Review: RECLVSE - Reclvse

Note: If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two here in the comments section or please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much!

Short introduction

The band RECLVSE formed in Wales in 2013 and features members of the band Ghast, They play traditionell Doom Metal with a lot of heavyness in their music and fine leads which come out very powerfull. Their first selftitled 3-track-demo was recorded in 2014 by the band themselves and comes with cover artwork by Bvrzerk and band logo by Christophe Szpajdel. The demo was released online May 4th 2014.

RECLVSE are fands of Pentagram, Warning, Candlemass, Cathedral, Reverand Bizarre, Electric Wizard, Witchcraft, Gallow God, Moss, a fact that can be heard in their music I think.


Short Summary / Player / Purchase Link

If you're into Doom Metal you should definitely give the demo tape a round of listening. It comes with a raw sound but that's something that even more adds to the atmosphere of the tracks, it gives them something very smokily and breathes with a lot of atmosphere right through. The tape makes me curious on what to expect from the band. Would like to know how their sound evolves, a lot of promising sounds and ideason this one. Hope they will keep the good stuff up!

The full demo comes as a free download offer on Bandcamp to you, so there's no hidden catch at all. Inside of the zip file you'll also find the cover to make your own disc of it. Anyway, you may also choose to pay as much for the demo as you think it's worth on Bandcamp.

Sadly the options for embeding the player have changed on Bandcamp. They don't fit on my blog anymore so I decided to put the Soundcloud player here instead. If anybody knows a workaround please let me know!

Currently a distro service based in the UK also gives you the chance to get a phsyical copy of the record as a CD-R if you prefer to hold something in your hands. You can order a copy there for only 1 GBP plus shipping and handling. 

If you'd like to know how the band continues head over to Facebook and like them. There you'll also find announcements about a second leg of the Limited Edition of the record the band is thinking about at the moment.

Track by Track Review

1. Temptress!
Mighty and powerfull opening with bright guitars and drums, reminds a bit of Black Sabbath. Vocals come in and add a lot of spirit to the song. Some faster movement, before a change to some slower part builds a bridge to a very riffing and hard and faster part ending in a guitar solo. Very fast going again with some shred guitars before vocals come back again. The refrain stays in my mind. The song ends with a lot of distortion and powerful guitars like in the beginning. Great opening up for the demo!


2. Of Many Names
No long intro, the song kicks right in with vocals and the band playing a midtempo song. A short part builds up leads over to the refrain, very melodic vocals all over in this one. A much shorter track than the previous one but very direct and with fine melodies. Let's see what track three has to offer, getting curious even more...


3. Bewitch The Sky
The longest track of the demo opens up again with a lot of atmosphere and power. Majestic opening up with a lot of guitars and cymbals, moves onwards slow. A lot of drum patterns in this one, along with much guitar work give a wall of pulsating sound. Very unique, think I've not heard something like that before. The end climates into some silence and a softer part, very melodic and only with few drums put inside. In the end some more silence and fade-away. A very cool way to end the record.

Final line-up of Reverence Festival announced

Portuguese psych/ doom festival, Reverence has released its final heavy line-up with additions and a trailer to accompany it. The festival features the amazing HAWKWIND, PSYCHIC TV, SWERVEDRIVER, ELECTRIC WIZARD, GRAVEYEARD, RED FANG, THE WYTCHES, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX and many many more.

Check out the trailer below to find out which bands made it to the final line-up. For more information on the festival check out my previous post about it including info on location, prices and links to all the related websites.

Update 2014/07/11: The latest additions to the line-up have just been released! Completing the line-up for 2014 are Austin psych heroes The Black Angels, Sweedish heavy-metal four-piece Bombus, Lisbon trio Miss Lava, The Rising Sun Experience, The Jabberwocky Band & Celestial Bums.

Update 2014/06/04: More bands have been announced! With today's additions sixty bands playing over two days on four stages are now confirmed for this festival.
The latest additions to the line up include Brooklyn shoegaze pysch band A Place to Bury Strangers, The Black Angels's guitarist Christian Bland & the Revelatorsplaying for the first time in Europe and Austins Holy Wave. Portuguese acts Dreamweapon and 10000 Russos, Berlin's Francois Sky and DJ's Nuno Calado andTiago Castro complete the lost of acts just announced.

Update 2014/05/09: There are still bands added to the line-up! So there is even more value for money for everyone who decides to go to the festival. The latest additions to the line-up include pysche-rocker Bardo Pond and fellow Americans Sleepy Sun.