From the band:

Wąż is from Poland with members:

• Arek Kaus - guitar/synths
• Bartek Szeląg - bass
• Kuba Szyma - drums

SWAMP KREWE PROMOTION PACKAGE!!  Fuzzy has over 150 super fans in The Swamp Krewe subscription on Bandcamp. Send album codes to fuzzycracklins@gmail.com and if your music is KILLER then I'll share them with The Swamp Krewe. They have a lot of their own followers, so your album will get into the collections & feeds of many Bandcampers very quickly. It's FREE! Contact fuzzycracklins@gmail.com

Lucius Fox new album "Quaternary Panorama"

Fuzzy loves the sticks & strings setup (check out The Swamp's DOS BRUJOS and my Bandcamp comp "Sticks & Strings vol. 1") and Fuzzy loves instrumental (my next comp is 100% instrumental stoner), AND Fuzzy loves a good concept album (I produced CROW & POE), so when LUCIUS FOX sent me their new album "Quaternary Panorama" which is all of these things wrapped up into a mind-blowing instrumental prog metal guitar & drums concept album, what else was my reaction going to be except to say, this album is EPIC!! Have a listen to "Quaternary Panorama" and then I'll break it down:


Right off, this album is non-stop energy. The drums never let up, the riffs always keep it fresh, and even a slower song like "Extinction/Rebirth" is still full of more than enough metal. That's a hallmark of sticks & strings: each instrument has to pull way more than its own weight and it really pays off with this album.

Next thing, there is an incredible flow to this album. (Excuse the pun, since the concept that ties the songs together is glacier flows and timelines.) This plays out like a rock opera, with ebbs and flows and a consistency to the riffs that ties it all together without ever getting repetitive. This album rips it up for nearly an hour without missing a beat.

So technically, when an album is instrumental, you might argue that it's not a concept album since there are no lyrics to tell the story. Fuzzy disagrees with that. The music sets the mood and tells the story with sound, and if you insist on "lyrics" then read along with the copious album notes (and you might just learn something, too). Metal for nerds? Maybe, but I'm a nerd so I dig it. A lot.

Each song is tied to a geologic era focusing on the Great Lakes, from long ago until after humanity's demise. Check out the liner notes on the album page. From the band:

Quaternary Panorama is a 20,000 year timeline of the Great Lakes region; beginning during the final advance of the Laurentide ice sheet and ending just after the extinction of the human race. It spans the formation of the Great Lakes, migration of indigenous peoples to the region, colonialism, anthropogenic climate change, mass extinction and the aftermath. It’s hyper specific to the Great Lakes region and mega nerdy, but it also gets down really hard and we are incredibly proud of it.

Photo taken by: Teresa O'Riley — at The Music Factory.

Lucius Fox is from Kalamazoo, Michigan with members:

• Jeremy Cronk - Guitar
• Paul Joseph Drake Jr. - Drums

MERCH!! Get the artwork and the CD from the Lucius Fox Bandcamp page.

SHOWS!! Next up are a couple of gigs in February; follow the band's Facebook page for dates.

ORC S/T cover art by Sly Me Illustration

All I really need to say about this debut album from ORC is how many times I've listened to it in the past 2 days since it was released. Over twenty times. It really is that good. Have a listen and then I'll break it down why I dig this album so much:

There is so much to like here, but in particular I have always dug a setup where the bass is the lead string instrument. (Check out my comp from last year Sticks & Strings vol. 1 for some more bass & string setups including Eats Batteries and Bardo.) It's pounding fuzz-ed out non-stop energy, and the drums have to work extra hard to make up for the low number of instruments.

Then there is the blend of progressive and stoner metal sounds. The band took it as their goal to mix these two genres together, and the result is way beyond anything you could hope for. The fuzz never stops, the heavy riffs never quit, and now you are getting an idea of why I've played this so many times in the past couple of days.

If this album was instrumental, I would still be raving about it. I would still have listened to it as many times as I did. (For example, check out last year's MOOZOONSII debut album with its instrumental stoner groove metal.)

But this album ain't instrumental. It has vocals, and does it ever! Andy Jeglic's singing piles onto the constant energy so well that it takes this album up to a new level. Andy's singing is the perfect match for this hard-driving music.

Orc says they were going for a mix of progressive and stoner metal, and Fuzzy says they found it!

Pantheon: Volume 3 by Caustic Casanova

Take a few parts heavy stoner metal and mix in a few parts prog and psych and you might end up with the unique sound of Caustic Casanova. Take a listen to Stampede from their most recent EP:



I really dig the high energy combined with the heavy riffs, but at the same time we get the lively guitar work and time changes from post metal or prog. Caustic Casanova has a very fresh and catchy sound while still keeping its roots in heavy metal.

And check out their cover of Weedeater's God Luck and Good Speed -- an epic 9 minute brain basher that doubles the time of the original:



Caustic Casanova is a trio from Washington, DC. consisting of Francis Beringer on bass & vox, Stefanie Zaenker on drums & vox, and Andrew Yonki on guitar.

And check out this news: Caustic Casanova will have a track on Magnetic Eye Records Best of Black Sabbath companion record, a bonus to the Vol.4 record. Available for pre-order now at MERHQ.net. Expect it to be out April 2020.


You can listen to Caustic Casanova's Stampede from Pantheon: Volume 3 along with many other fresh tracks from the heavy underground on this month's Bandcamp comp, Earth Day:

Zingaro instrumental prog metal fusion

Zingaro is a 2-piece experimental progressive desert rock band out of Denver, Colorado that blends progressive metal with funk, jazz, and even a little psychedelic guitar work. Take a listen:

Dr Sludgelove's My Space Odyssey

Does Fuzzy love a heavy song with a sample in it? Do gators bite? Hell, yes, I love a good sound clip. Here's my list of favorites. And here's Nydeaf's album review with one of the all-time great samples. And for "it's more of a sample than a song" you have to enjoy the electronic glory of doctea's Probe 7. So Fuzzy really has a treat for you today. Listen to the stream and read the full review of Dr Sludgelove's Space Odyssey fuzzy psychedelic album after the jump.......

Holos by Nomera

From the warm shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico ... we are all the same in our love of instrumental metal music, am I right? So when the guys in Nomera asked me to spin their latest album Holos you know I was keen to do so. Stream the album from Bandcamp and read Fuzzy Cracklin's album review of the progressive instrumental metal album Holos by Nomera after the jump...