Magnetic Eye Rock & Indie 34 Items

With "Fear Is a Cruel Master", Ruby THE Hatchet deliver exactly the brain-frying, catchy yet full of raw energy thriller-album that the American trailblazers acclaimed predecessor "Planetary Space Child" (2017) promised it to be. Five long years have passed since the New Jersey psych-rock squad dropped their last album, but the wait is finally over. Ruby THE Hatchet have reached a new peak of writing music as a collective that was hard won through sacrifices and an iron will to get better and to reach a new level each time. The album title, "Fear Is a Cruel Master", duly epitomizes the mood of the lockdown period in which it was written. Accustomed to working together as a group, singer Jillian Taylor, guitarist Johnny Scarps, drummer Owen Stewart, bassist Lake Muir, and organist Sean Hur were forced to spend more time apart than they normally would. "I read a lot during the pandemic, when I came across the phrase 'fear is a cruel master'," Taylor explains. “At the time, you could see the fear and how it was holding people back. The title resonates with being in the music community, because it was shaky for everyone – from bands to booking agents to venues. Fear was in the air.” Recorded at New Future in Jersey with Paul Ritchie from THE Parlor MOB, "Fear Is a Cruel Master" wasn't as meticulously mapped out as Ruby's previous albums. The band purposely left space for spontaneity and magic moments. Ultimately, the main theme of "Fear Is a Cruel Master" is self-reflection. Although these songs were forged in the crucible of world-stopping pestilence, they come with a timeless quality that transcends the moment of their creation. Everything that makes Ruby THE Hatchet such an outstanding and wildly loved act even among their peers is there – ranging from those sultry, honey-smoked vocals, via lush yet crisp guitars, to the spirit of rock 'n roll organ heroics. "Fear Is a Cruel Master" is definitely an album written after a decade of being in a band and looking back without regret at all the things done or not done. It is a testimony to that journey, as we now embark to follow the band's equally impressive and massive sonic wake.

What to do when you like rock and doom born from the desert but your surroundings offer anything but arid lands? Besvarjelsen found an impressive answer in the grim forests of their homeland in Dalarna, Sweden. Having grown up in the far north at the meeting grounds of ancient Norse and Finnish cultures amongst echoes of runes and gods, shamans and spirits, the spellbinding five-piece crafted their name from the Swedish word for "conjuring" while drawing heavy inspiration from local lore, mysticism, and the dark, old musical traditions. Yet Besvarjelsen are anything but another "pagan" outfit longing for a time that never was. With its wistful melodies and towering riff-power their sophomore full-length "Atlas" represents a logical step along the course that Besvarjelsen charted from the start. The band was co-founded by guitarists and vocalists Andreas Baier and Staffan Stensland Vinrot in 2014 with a clear vision to channel the spirit and traditions of the vast Dalarna forests, a region otherwise famous for its painted wooden horses, into contemporary heavy music. Once vocalist Lea Amling Alazam arrived with a fiery passion for punk and stoner rock that had begun at the local skate park when she was just counting 13 years, Andreas and Staffan happily relegated their shared vocal duties to a supporting role – an easy choice as Lea's distinctive voice summoned the intimacy and charisma of singers like Nina Simone or AMY Winehouse. Besvärjelsen released their debut EP "Villfarelser" in 2015, which was followed quickly by the "Exil" EP in 2016. The Swedes' debut full-length "Vallmo" hit the streets of Stockholm and elsewhere in 2018. The album merged crushing riffs and storming drums with increasingly sophisticated melodies and thoughtful themes. With the mini-album "Frost", Besvärjelsen intended to crush stages all over Europe in 2019, before being forced into involuntary live performance hibernation for two years. Although compelled to write separately, the band used the spare time to compile a wealth of ideas, amassed remotely and shared across the miles and months of relative solitude, which would finally result in the recording of "Atlas" with producer Karl Daniel Lidén in 2021. Re-purposing melancholic harmonies that could have been derived from the playbook of Alice IN Chains, adding gravity that would make Windhand proud, and topping their upgraded sound with exciting yet intimate vocal lines, Besvarjelsen have carved a towering monolith from solid rock and planted it firmly into the magical woods of their homeland to send its heavy lay-lines around the globe that is burdening the shoulders of the titan "Atlas".

"Back in Black [Redux]" presents new takes on all ten cuts from AC/DC's seminal seventh album. This was the first record to feature "new" singer Brian Johnson following the death of original larger-than-life frontman Bon Scott, and music historians agree that there was massive pressure on both the new singer and the band to deliver. Even so, nobody could have anticipated that they'd create one of the most important rock albums ever, and Magnetic Eye cannot wait to present what many favorites from the stoner, doom, and riff-rock scene have done with some of the most iconic rock songs of all time.

"Back in Black [Redux]" presents new takes on all ten cuts from AC/DC's seminal seventh album. This was the first record to feature "new" singer Brian Johnson following the death of original larger-than-life frontman Bon Scott, and music historians agree that there was massive pressure on both the new singer and the band to deliver. Even so, nobody could have anticipated that they'd create one of the most important rock albums ever, and Magnetic Eye cannot wait to present what many favourites from the stoner, doom, and riff-rock scene have done with some of the most iconic rock songs of all time.

Magnetic Eye Records present a blistering live document of their flagship band Summoner ripping it onstage at the "Day of Doom" label showcase at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar.

Magnetic Eye Records present a blistering live document of their flagship band Horsehunter destroying onstage at the "Day of Doom" label showcase at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar.

Magnetic Eye Records presents a blistering live document of flagship Magnetic Eye Records band Elephant Tree tearing it up onstage at the "Day of Doom" label showcase at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar.

Magnetic Eye Records presents a blistering live document of flagship Magnetic Eye Records band Domkraft annihilating onstage at the "Day of Doom" label showcase at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar. This once-in-a-lifetime gathering was held in November 2019 to celebrate MER’s first decade. It featured nine roster acts performing back-to-back, with the four headline sets captured live by Chris Johnson (deafheaven, Summoner) to commemorate the event as a set of exclusive live albums.

Zakk Sabbath is the Black Sabbath tribute band featuring guitarist/vocalist Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society, Ozzy Osbourne), bassist Blasko (Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie) and drummer Joey Castillo (Danzig, Queens of the Stone Age), who have been constantly gigging since 2014 with their take on the Birmingham four's early songs. Legendarily recorded in a single day in October 1969, Black Sabbath's self-titled debut was released on a Friday the 13th in 1970, and the world was never the same. "We recorded a live EP and were wondering what we could do next as a cover band, so the 50th album anniversary came just at the right time", explains Blasko regarding Zakk Sabbath's decision to go studio. "Compared to 'Paranoid', which is almost like a best-of record, the bulk of the material on 'Black Sabbath' is deep-cut, really experimental stuff that was never thoroughly explored, so that was a challenge, not to forget that we wanted to meet our own high standards." Describing the DIY process as "very productive," the three respectfully added their own flair to make for a slightly different flavour, also revisiting various live renditions and "extending a solo here or slowing things down because that's what they tended to do on stage." Titled "Vertigo", Zakk Sabbath's ode to the masters won't be available digitally, "to make the release feel authentic to the time when vinyl ruled the earth. It was such a cool time for those of us that grew up during that time. The fan experience with the physical product is irreplaceable with digital and streaming. We wanted to capture that authenticity." The songs were faithfully recorded in the spirit of the original - live in the studio and with a film crew documenting the process - culminating in a new celebration of the greatest heavy metal band of all time and the record that started it all.

Worth their weight in Sabbathian sensibility and combined with stunning vocals that channel the likes of Portishead and Bjork, San Franciscan heavy trio Brume present expansive, hypnotic sonic catharsis on new album "Rabbits."

Gritty, loud, unforgiving and uncompromising, Ghastly Soud formed around the foundation of childhood friends TJ Maynard (bass) and Ryan Lewis (drums), who began writing songs as a two-piece focused on guitarless volume worship and a love for party riffs.The band's rolling, thunderous tones blended with a splash of groove attracted vocalist Tyler Gurwicz, whose presence provided equal amounts straightforward candor and raw power.

Every song on Howling Giant's sophomore album "Glass Future" tells its own story. Yet even without an overarching concept, all could exist within the same universe. Such crafty lyrical world-building is hardly surprising coming from a trio of enthusiastic fantasy and science fiction aficionados. "Glass Future" downright asks to inspire a book or graphic novel, even as it explodes with furious energy and thunderous acrobatics. Musically, "Glass Future" offers a continuation and evolution of all the elements that made the debut album "The Space Between Worlds" (2019) such a success. Howling Giant entice classic metal and hard rock to interact dynamically with spacy, prog-infused passages, desert and psychedelic metal moments, rock organs, catchy hooks, and top everything off with soaring harmonized vocals. Howling Giant hail from one of the most legendary places for music on earth: Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Despite the city's reputation for assembly-line pop country, the town called Music City is a place of deep history, where brilliant songwriters and virtuoso session players keep dozens of musical legacies burning bright. Fertile ground, then, for a preeminent fuzz-psych power trio who consciously live in the pocket of that lineage. During the last two years, the trio integrated bassist Sebastian Baltes, the son of German metal legends ACCEPT's former bass player Peter Baltes, fully into the band as a co-writer. Howling Giant take a gargantuan leap forward with "Glass Future" that brings their outstanding musicianship and golden-throated triple vocal attack fully into stride. Nothing to do but try to keep up and enjoy the stunning sonic scenery along the way!

Gatefold-LP Neupressung (violettes Vinyl) in Redux Series O-Card.