Veil of Stuff feat. EDENA GARDENS, EFFLUENCE, E.U.E.R.P.I. and SLEEPBOMB

Wow, that took some time again! But at last here are the latest four releases I've reviewed over at Veil of Sound:

EFFLUENCE - Anticholinergic Derangement (2026)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Let's start with what will easily be one of the most batshit crazy Extreme Metal albums of the year - the over seventy minutes long magnum opus of Matt Stevens' "Free Death" project Effluence.

Prepare yourself for a gloriously annoying snare drum sound being hammered into your brain forever - alongside an incomprenhesible overflow of completely over the top, but also just downright fantastically creative Dissonant and Technical Death Metal with ultra guttural growls!

At least on par with the brilliant chaos of bands like Qrixkuor or Esoctrilihum "Anticholigergenic Derangements" pairs its relentless highspeed Brutal Death assault with Free Jazz attitude, swirling pianos, shredding lead guitars, flutes, Folk choir chants and more in an outright unhinged attack on the listener's sanity.

[Don't remind me of the costs - I'd like to forget that part with US imports like this -, but I couldn't be content with only owning this ground- and mindbreaking release in digital form. I don't know if the CD has been shipped yet or whenever it will arrive, but when it does, I'll update this post with one or two pictures.]

SLEEPBOMB - Songs In The Key Of Conan (2026)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

An American band with a comparably ambitious attitude, yet in a significantly less sick in the head - and musically completely different - way are Sleepbomb, who have specialized in creating alternative soundtracks to movie classics - in this case John Milius' famous fantasy flick "Conan The Barbarian" featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his legendary minimal-acting breakthrough role.

As bold as even the suggestion that you might need a replacement for Basil Poledouris' bombastic original score feels: Sleepbomb deliver an epic, totally independent take on the subject in the language of sludgy (Tulsa) Doom Metal and Post Rock with Classical and Arabic influences, seasoned with ethereal female vocalizations, atmospheric Ambient keyboards, Tribal percussions and jazzy parts featuring clarinet and saxophone.

It's an almost seventy-seven minutes long album, but its sixteen chapters don't even offer a single weak moment. Crom!  

EDENA GARDENS - Quintessence (2LP) (2026)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

After delivering four studio recordings and one live album since 2022 the Danish Stoner Psych Fusion Jam super group of Nicklas Sørensen, Martin Rude and Jakob Skøtt strikes again with their first double album and probably most ambituous work to date.

In six masterfully morphing longtracks the trio once again demonstrates musicianship, taste and the common cosmic wavelength of its members coming together in perfect alchemy. Edena Gardens' improvisations are captured so intimately that it feels as if you were right there in a room with the band.

It's an amazing album presented accordingly. The gatefold cover with Rude's drawings colourized by Skøtt is an eyecatcher even by the high standards of El Paraiso Records. And if you order your copy directly from the label, you even get a couple of stickers of the figure on the front cover. Very nice!

E.U.E.R.P.I. - Microworlds (2026)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

The four albums in this bunch are all examples of very different concepts and their respective execution. This work of Bulgarian composer and Experimental musician Mirian Kolev might actually be the most unorthodox one, because it is based on contact microphone field recordings shrinking us down to the size of ants or (on the last of the three tracks) crickets, so we can experience their mystical world beyond our usual perception as a fascinating, strangely satisfying ASMR experience.

The combination with the sounds of obscure touch-based synthesizers ultimately turns these recordings into - still very minimal and Ambient - music. So don't expect catchy melodies and choruses, but enjoy this as the highly Experimental, but in its own special way very capticating project it is! Headphones strictly recommended.

EDENA GARDENS - Dispossessed

Nicklas Sørensen, Martin Rude and Jakob Skøtt are back.

No, that sounds wrong.

With this new studio recording being the fifth release of Edena Gardens in the span of only four years it doesn't actually feel like the Danish trio has ever actually been away. At least I cannot claim that I've grown tired of their previous output thus far. But of course I will gladly take this new offering anyway!

EDENA GARDENS - Dispossessed (LP) (2025)

The improvisational instrumental Psychedelic super group made out of members of Papir, London Odense Ensemble and of course El Paraiso Records founding band Causa Sui presents itself in an often dry, stripped down way on "Dispossessed".

The album starts with the slow cowboy Doom chords of "Hiraeth", very akin to Earth and maintains a relaxed bluesy atmosphere, which sometimes lifts off into wider dreamier spheres, while still keeping one foot firmly in the dirt of the bare ground.

Between desert Americana and Post Kraut the organic flow of guitar, bass (or baritone guitar) and drums switches of your body clock with each of the eight tracks seperating you farther from your common perception of time.

As the ultimate logical conclusion of this experience the slow motion twangs, howls and Ambient textures of the ten-minute piece "Aftenstjerne" are a great way to close this album.

While many cover artworks of the label are created by Jakob Skøtt, "Dispossessed" is actually graced by a painting of another band member, bassist Martin Rude.

Visually and acoustically: beautiful work, everyone! 

EDENA GARDENS - Dens

Who am I even writing this for? It's the third studio (and fourth total) album of Edena Gardens in only two years. So if you know any of the three previous releases, you have probably already grabbed this one a long while ago anyway, right?

But of course this could also be the very first time you're hearing of this El Paraiso Records trio consisting of Jakob Skøtt (drums, Causa Sui), Martin Rude (bass and baritone guitar, London Odense Ensemble) and Nicklas Sørensen (guitar, Papir).

In this case the bad news is that I won't give you any detailed description of their music in this review. The good news is that you don't have too much to read - and hopefully still get at least a faint idea of what kind of record this is!

EDENA GARDENS - Dens (LP) (2023)

It's Friday and winter is coming back. It has been minus one degree Celsius almost the whole day. It had been snowing, but not very much, so the streets were wet, but still free when I drove home. Only afterwards it seriously increased - and the outlook is that it will get colder, probably a lot colder in the coming days.

In the late afternoon I had a nice hot soup and a while later in the early evening I made myself a plum tea, took "Dens" off the shelf and invited the cat to join me while I put it on the turntable. White cold outside, warmth and dim ligt inside. A nice-smelling cup in my hand and my body under a cozy blanket with a pet radiating peacefulness on top of it.

This was perfect! What a smooth way to start the weekend - and in that moment I couldn't have imagined a better score to this scene. This album sounds so light, yet so very profound. It oozes with an ease that's never superficial, but sits right at the core. Yes, Edena Gardens are playing Psychedelic music with standard Rock instrumentation. There is no mysterious secret about how this album was made. However immersing oneself into its seven tracks somehow makes you forget that, because the music just feels so metaphysical, like the sound of a bright light all inside and around you. And it's not even kitschy! This album just purrs.

The only thing which doesn't work flawlessly about "Dens" is the typo colour choice on the cover. Too much black on almost black, which makes half of the track titles as good as unreadable. So if clearly discernible credits are your main objective as a record collector - don't buy this!

The verdict: Meow.

MIDYEAR TOP 15: my favorite albums of 2023 (so far)

Oh shit, half of the year is already over again, so it's time for the ever impossible task!

Put this together rather quickly and already feel bad for half a dozen releases I omitted. No distinction between studio and live albums or EPs, only stuff I already own in physical form.
Tomorrow this would probably look different, but that's just how it always is, right? After a couple of places the order is as good as random.

One thing I can guarantee though: If you don't have a shitty taste, you should check all of these out!

1. BELL WITCH
   Future's Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate
   
   
   
   
2. LAIBACH
   Sketches Of The Red Districts
   
   
   
   
3. TEMPLE FANG
   Live at Slachthuis
   
   
   
   
4. BIG|BRAVE
   Nature Morte
   
   
   
   
5. ESBEN AND THE WITCH
   Hold Sacred
   
   
   
   
6. OTAY:ONII
   夢​之​駭​客 Dream Hacker
   
   
   
   
7. COLD DEW
   Yuyu 欲欲
   
   
   
   
8. POIL UEDA
   PoiL Ueda
   
   
   
   
9. TREVOR TOMKINS' SEXTANT
   For Future Reference
   
   
   
   
10. TILINTETGJORT
    In Death I Shall Arise
    
    
    
    
11. EDENA GARDENS
    Agar
    
    
    
    
12. HEALTHYLIVING
    Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief
    
    
    
    
13. THE END
    Why Do You Mourn
    
    
    
    
14. 李劍鴻 LI JIANHONG & 文智湧 WEN ZHIYONG
    & 鄧博宇 DENG BOYU
    歲​寒​三​友 Les Trois Amis de l'Hiver
    
    
    
    
15. GRAVE DESECRATOR
    Immundissime Spiritus
    
    
    
    

EDENA GARDENS - Agar / Live Momentum

So much stuff to potentially write about and so little time to do so. I had already wanted to cover this doubly whammy of releases by Edena Gardens at some point between getting both of them in the mail and their show at Esbjerg Fuzztival, but with A Colossal Weekend and other duties inbetween there was just no chance to do it.

Unfortunately their live show couldn't be the whole experience, because one of the three members was missing due to sickness, so talking about those albums now has a certain bittersweet overtone.

EDENA GARDENS - Agar (LP) (2023)

"Agar" is the second studio work of the Danish trio, which consists of Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt, his partner in crime in the London Odense Ensemble and obviously the duo and trio with their names in it, Martin Rude on bass, and Papir guitarist Nicklas Sørensen.
I described the self-titled debut as the meeting point of Causa Sui's "Szabodelico" and Dylan Carlson's Earth - and that is still the road Edena Gardens are exploring here.

They still lean into a relaxed mode of psychedelic Americana with the occasional bit which very subtly is a little more jazzy or Latin. And if a broader and lighter Post Rock atmosphere sets in they won't say no to it either. All in all however most of "Agar" still is a cool and twangy guitar-driven affair.
In the finale of "Crescent Helix" Edena Gardens are hinting that they could take this to much wilder places, but even in the excess still decidely show restraint, only going as far as possible without breaking the mood. 

As unwinding as this sound, which noticeably doesn't copy the members' other bands, is - it also comes with enough musical intrigue to keep you excited all the way through.
If "Agar" does this better than the debut? Don't ask me... probably. But once you get into this band it's very likely that you'll want to have both studio albums anyway.

Top of the El Paraiso Records roster stuff!

EDENA GARDENS - Live Momentum (LP) (2023)

One song from the debut ("Now Here Nowhere") and one from "Agar" ("The Veil"), both being shorter than their studio versions. That's the first hint that Edena Gardens's live show goes into a more extroverted direction - at least if all three members are on stage, which was the case at their very first performance at Jaiyede Jazz Festival in Odense in October 2022. And exactly that performance has been pressed on vinyl here.

The extra step they promised towards the end of the "Agar" record - now they are fully taking it. Or to quote the hype text on the OBI strip: "Edena Gardens are not all about musical meditation, but they also know how to rock." That's it. Hard to add anything to that - or even write a whole review about stuff - when you already have the meat right there.

The whole B side belongs to seventeen minutes of improvised "Live Momemtum", which presents the trio at their most funky, playful, deconstructing and reconstructing. Yes, it's pretty far off the premise the two studio albums have established, but damn, it's a great eventfully sprawling Rock jam!
What these dudes can cook up on the spot is just amazing. Lots of experience and chemistry there.

Together these two albums really are two equally valuable sides of a coin. And even though I avoid cash when in Denmark, because I don't want to go through the hassle of exchanging Euro for DKK - I gladly take this acoustic currency.

elparaisorecords · Edena Gardens: Veil (live)

ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2023 • PART 1/2: Friday, May 26th • feat.CAUSA SUI, EDENA GARDENS, KANAAN, NEBULA, VALLEY OF THE SUN and VESTJYSK ØRKEN

Read PART 2 here:

ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2023 • PART 2/2: Saturday, May 27th • feat. CLOUDS TASTE SATANIC, DEATHCHANT, ECSTATIC VISION, FATSO JETSON, HIGH DESERT QUEEN, SLOWJOINT, SLOWJOINT and SLOWJOINT



I've considered writing this festival review in German for three reasons: 1. convenience, 2. most of the non-Danish visitors obviously were Tysk, 3. just so I could use the word Bärtival. But then I also like it when more potential readers can understand my shit, so here we go in engelsk again!

Driving to Esbjerg in the Southwest of Denmark was quite a different experience than the way to Copenhagen two weeks before. Same route until I crossed the border, but then instead of only Motorvej and that huge expensive Great Belt Bridge an unhurried drive through the countryside, while my navigation system was hitlering for half an hour that I should go zurück zur Autobahn, before it finally excepted that I had different plans. My bad, because even though the Freeway route costs twenty percent fuel extra, it would have saved me a whopping five minutes!

I headed directly to the North Sea beach just outside the city, where the four Mennesket ved Havet ("Men at Sea") are staring into infinity, to follow my touristic duty:

After that I drove to the free parking space right next to the Fuzztival venue. My hotel also was just a couple of minutes away, so this was an event of exceptionally short distances.

The Huset Esbjerg actually is a little too small for what the festival has become, but since the original bigger venue had gone bankrupt earlier in the year, ticket sales had to be limited and the smaller location had to suffice. Due to the limitation the sold out Fuzztival never felt inhumanely crammed. It's just a pity that the organizers couldn't earn that sweet extra money from more visitors, which is so urgently needed in the current live music scene.

However I will write this review as a list of FAILs, because I am an asshole? Well, I hope not. I just noticed that some little or bigger thing was wrong all the time, as if this weekend had been cursed my an unfuzzable witch. Please don't take this too serious!

FAIL: The Esbjerg locals Vestjysk Ørken entered the stage - and the guitar amp was silent.

Redemption: After the technical problem had been figured out and some sound issues had to be overcome, the duo delivered a hypnotic mix of Heavy Krautrock and crunchy Stoner fuzziness [spoiler: the Fuzz part applied to ALL bands on the billing!], which almost felt like a summary or preview of what the whole festival was about. Great stuff with a lot of loop and pedal work.

Their drumkit stayed on stage for the whole festival, so you know that anyone writing about the festival, who cannot spell their name, clearly hasn't really been there.

FAIL: One, two... wait! Where's Nicklas Sørensen? Unfortunately the guitar player of Papir was sick today, so Edena Gardens, one of the three main reasons for me to be here, was incomplete!

Redemption: Martin Rude and Jakøb Skott tried their best to substitute the third member's absence, which meant that the bass player switched to guitar and looped some bass lines. While the latter didn't always work as intended, they were for the most part very successful in capturing the original Earth Americana meets laid back Psychedelic vibe of their albums. Definitely the right sound to close your eyes and slowly drift away, even though it understandably didn't reach the full greatness that was promised.

One thing one must ask however is, if it even occured to the two that they could have just as well have performed as the Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt Duo? But maybe a Jazz Rock session in the line of their albums under that moniker would have been too far off the mood or the festival brand.

FAIL: Six thirty PM. I'm standing in front of the stage, but neither Kanaan nor any of their gear can be seen! Since the Norwegian trio is an even bigger reason for me to be here than the band before, I am beginning to question my life choices now. I would have had the chance to see them in Kiel the week before or in Hamburg only the day before - both options much closer to home. And now I'm here and they are not!

Redemption: Kanaan's touring van had gotten fixed just in time, so they could arrive around twenty minutes after their show should have started. They hectically rushed onto stage, set everything up, plugged in, didn't even pull all jackets off and started without any soundcheck. And behold! It was an absolute blast right from the beginning.
The situation surely pumped some extra adrenaline into the band. Anyone who has ever seen Kanaan live knows that Ingvald Andre Vassbø (who by the way has been announced as touring drummer for Motorpsycho later this year!) is always a completely unpredictable beast on the drums. But this time he seemed even more determined to outright destroy the kit and its surrounding. At least one big crash cymbal crashed down and hit his bandmate's second bass. Carnage!

And I haven't even said anything about their brilliant music yet. But then one can't put this ridiculously energetic mix of heavy Stoner Rock, Psychedelica and Jazz Fusion into adequate words anyway. There's no other band like Kanaan right now. Especially considering how it responded to its circumstances this show was my favorite of the day!

And they didn't even have to cut it short. The running order just had a delay of half an hour now and that was it.

A small detour: Instead of a regular setup the light show of the whole festival was made with several projectors which threw trippy analoge effects and textures and all kinds of mystical and nightmarish, cartoonish and cyberpunk or just plain weird artworks onto the white backdrop of the stage. Even though this looked pretty rad and fascinating - and every band got a distinct palette - I honestly found it to be a little tiring to have each and every single performance lit that way.

(It's also nearly impossible to shoot decent pictures of it with a certain digital toy camera, because these projections just aren't as bright as spots or stroboscopes. If you're already familiar to my live reviews you certainly noticed that apart from the tourist pictures I ditched the Harinezumi aesthetic and went for a different style which honours the predominant Orange amps of the Fuzztival.)

Well, if I wanted just a little break from those light shows - for a couple of minutes I would actually get it soon...

FAIL: More than one fail actually. The drummer kept kicking his bass drum away. And in the middle of the show the whole light show  suddenly went off.

Redemption: People were entertained. I guess. Honestly we now entered that corner of Desert Rock I'm not particularily fond of. Much emphasis on sleazy Rock'n'Roll and way too much hard to look at grimacing and posing. At least some self-awareness, as shown when the drummer wanted his mic open for banter and the frontman said "He thinks he is funny." Musically not really that bad though. I guess. Well, just not my thing.

The moving bass drum problem was at least solved for the following bands with a filled sack in front of it as a stopping weight.

And during the darkness a couple of volunteers in the crowd stepped in in with their smartphone flashlights. Which actually was a memorable moment and the highlight of the show for me.

FAIL: I have nothing. As far as I know everything went smooth. So I guess we just skip Causa Sui here, right?

Ok, let's not do that! This show was true bucket list stuff. I've known for a while now that one day I had to see these Heavy Psych masters live - and that the best chance for that would probably be if they were playing at a festival somewhere in their home country Denmark. Enter Fuzztival! This sealed the deal for me - and rightfully so!

While Kanaan had delivered my favorite show of the night partly due to its special circumstances, objectively - I know, we don't like that term while speaking about music! - in regards to songwriting, atmosphere and experience Causa Sui certainly delivered the standout show.

The quartet's musicianship should be out of the question anyway, but there's also just a perfect dramatic flow in their compositions. No matter if the band levitated through flickering dreamscapes, Latin Szabodelici and sketches of Miles Davis or escalated into wild Fuzz Kraut Heaviness, it was always a transcendent class of its own. No question indeed, to witness this genre-transcendent mastery live is a treasure. Happy to strike this experience from my bucket list!

(Well, maybe I'll keep "Causa Sui + guest saxophonist" on it, just in case.)

FAIL: Hmm... I think there was something which I have forgotten. But then there was also that one really mean and brutal vocal mic feedback. I'd also count it as akward to put a (cover or poster?) design directly related to Grateful Dead into the slideshow. That's weird, like eating your Burger King fries inside a McDonald's.

Redemption: Nebula played was a good show. Down to Earth, definitely Desert Rock through and through, a little bit bluesy and for sure with a raw Grunge note especially in the vocal delivery. Also some nice jammy passages. Overall not the stuff I would need to listen to extensively at home, but nothing to complain about either.

Since I was tired I called it a day after half of the show. And I must say that the city of Esbjerg is quite tolerant, as I could still clearly hear the music almost during the whole walk to my hotel room.

I quickly realized how tired I really was. One moment I was sitting half-upright in bed, ready to take another sip of tea. And then suddenly sunlight peaked through the closed roller blind, it was almost seven in the morning and I hadn't even plugged in my phone to charge it yet.