Greenleaf

Greenleaf

Greenleaf became a proper band after more than a decade as a loose collective of friends making 70s-inspired hard rock and proto-metal. Led by guitarist Tommi Holappa, co-founder of European desert rock originators Dozer, various configurations of Greenleaf with personnel from Lowrider, Truckfighters, Demon Cleaner and Dozer came and went during those early years. But after five records and twice as many cast members rotating in and out, Tommi began to feel Greenleaf could be something more. Its evolution from side project to focused band began when Tommi reached out to the classically-trained Arvid Hällagård in 2013 to sing on a new track. Arvid’s early stoner rock band Giant Space Cruiser had played with Dozer some years before, and Tommi had kept tabs on the charismatic singer. Along with drummer Sebastian Olsson, who began as a fill-in but would become the second-longest tenured Greenleaf member behind Tommi, they worked on one song and then another, Arvid taking things in a different direction vocally than any previous version of the project had seen. The sense was immediate that things had changed, and what they were making was a true album. Playing a few shows, they found an immediate onstage chemistry, and it was undeniable that this was no longer just a way to fill time between their other bands. This was the foundation for what Greenleaf would be from then on: a locked-in, stage-destroying, anthem-blasting force, led by Tommi's unparalleled riff sorcery, Arvid's enrapturing, soul-heavy vocals, Sebastian’s frenetic rhythms and bassist Hans Fröhlich’s deep, driving attack. Today Greenleaf are widely recognized as a dominating live act and one of the most prolific and obsessively listenable outfits to emerge from the European heavy underground. With four albums of driving, soaring riff-rock power to their credit since transforming into an actual band, they continue pushing the boundaries of desert-influenced rock further with each record and burning down increasingly massive stages year after year. Now, ten years since the release of the landmark Trails & Passes album, Greenleaf return with The Head & The Habit, a record energized by awareness of their past triumphs and crafted with the maturity of a band who knows how to rock stronger, harder and better than ever before.

Howling Giant

Nashville’s Howling Giant has nothing to prove. Music City’s preeminent heavy jamming psych-wizards formed more than a decade ago, and have been on an enviously productive upswing ever since. With four EPs, a split, and two full-length albums under their belts, not to mention a relentless touring ethos that finds them spreading the gospel of the riff far and wide, Howling Giant can transfix you with a gorgeous, harmony-laden vocal hook while hitting you square in the gut with the snaking, progressive groove you never saw coming. So, if they have nothing to prove, how do they still sound so hungry? The solidified trio of Sebastian Baltes (bass/vocals), Tom Polzine (guitar/vocals), and Zach Wheeler (drums/vocals) have honed their craft to a diamond-hard point, but they still bring the fire to every audience with a fervor like every show is the first show, and with a wisdom like any show could be the last show. Since the 2023 release of their exquisite and widely acclaimed album Glass Future, Howling Giant has taken to the open road again and again, co-headlining a European odyssey with fellow Magnetic Eye Records vibe-hounds Heavy Temple and entrancing North America in support of heavyweights like The Obsessed, Black Tusk, and Mars Red Sky. As if that weren’t enough, Howling Giant has recently expanded to a four-piece with the permanent addition of Adrian Lee Zambrano on guitar and synths. With that dual-axe attack and an absurd wealth of hook-driven, hard-driving melodic metal in their arsenal, the band is again poised to work with Magnetic Eye Records for the release of their third album, the massive and mercurial Crucible & Ruin. These are difficult times, and more than ever we need music with the vitality and passion of Howling Giant to knock us down and then lift us back up, electrified and ready to meet the day. Crucible & Ruin finds Howling Giant embracing even more ethereal textures and wide-open spaces, which makes the hammer-drop of each churning riff and whip-crack drum fill hit even harder. The mellow parts are smoothly psychedelic sailing, like the pensive restraint that opens “The Archivist” or the contemplative instrumental “Lesser Gods,” but then they turn out a stuttering bruiser like “Beholder I - Downfall” which is built around such a massively heavy groove that it might have its own weather system. More importantly, though, at the core of each tune are such impeccable songwriting chops that you’ll quickly feel like you’ve known these songs forever. Having brought their thunder to hundreds of audiences, each player lays down their licks in generous, sympathetic lockstep. Baltes’s bass lurks and then lashes out with huge, twanging swings, while Wheeler’s drumming lands in a perfect sweet spot midway between Dave Grohl and Neil Peart. Polzine’s and Zambrano’s guitars paint a widescreen palette of laser-focused hooks and beautiful atmospherics, from the heaving bounce of “Melchor’s Bones” and the nervy dual-guitar overlay of “Scepter & Scythe” to the mile-wide grin of a groove that pops up toward the end of “Hunter’s Mark.” Across the entire album, three voices mingle in golden harmonies that often float atop the earthbound pummel of the instrumentation. If you’re the kind of person who’s still trying to figure out if Howling Giant is for you, the surest solution is to plug yourself into Crucible & Ruin’s heavy rocking hymns. They echo such fellow travelers as Baroness, Elder, and Mastodon, but if you close your eyes, you might also hear a dream vision of King’s X and Corrosion of Conformity playing with Dozer while the Allman brothers nod their approval. This is heavy music in pursuit of lightness. Howling Giant has nothing to prove, yet they’re still out here doing the damn thing. Maybe we could all use some escapism these days, but Crucible & Ruin points the way to a better world by staying deeply present in every tricky fill, every songbird riff, every canyon-deep groove, every desperate refrain. It’s a good time to be together, and Howling Giant’s gorgeous, knotty, searching new album is like the daybreak just poised to crest the horizon. Let’s get out there, together.

FNTM