“Everything’s good, everything’s fine” so sang Ian Gillan in 1971. And everything’s still good if North Carolinian, dark riffing, blue collar, horror novel rockers Demon Eye are anything to go by. Taking their name from that Deep Purple song, Paul Walz (bass), Bill Eagen (drums), Larry Burlison (guitars) and Erik Sugg (guitars, vocals) play laid-back, bluesy hard rock with more than a nod to their forebears, putting them alongside Orchid and Danava in today’s contemporary scene.

“I was playing with a high energy, MC5 inspired band called the Dragstrip Syndicate. After that I played with some similar styled bands, always tending to borrow from ‘60s Detroit rock or heavy psych groups like Blue Cheer,” explains Erik of how Demon Eye came to be. “When I first met Larry and Bill they were playing with Richard Bacchus from the old New York City rock band, D-generation. Demon Eye was born after the four of us got together to play in a ‘70s rock cover band called Corvette Summer. After about a year of playing tunes by groups like Budgie, UFO and Humble Pie we started writing our own music.

“There are many things that attract me to this music,” he continues of why … Read More

Halfway to the North Pole on the Norwegian coast, Trondheim seems to be the least likely place to shelter a band like High Priest Of Saturn. And indeed, stuck between a vivid pop/rock scene and a hardcore black metal movement, the power-trio, led by foxy vocalist Merethe, stick out. Openly inspired by stoner and doom, their 2011 two-track demo was a revelation, an epic trip drowned in echoes and menacing organ lines. Fast-forward a year and a small line-up switch later and the trio’s self-titled album picks up where things were left and goes totally berserk… or should we say cosmic? “Regarding the name, we wanted an aesthetic related to Saturn, both on an astronomical and mythological level. We do like the symbolism attached to it and believe it fits our music well. And, most importantly, we just think the name sounds cool,” Merethe laughs. “Musically, Acid King is one of our main influences, next to other classic stoner doom bands such as Sleep and Om, but also ’60s and ’70s bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors and of course Black Sabbath. We also used a keyboard player for the album and his organ paints the walls in psychedelic colours; the … Read More