#sergeant thunderhoof

[Thoughts] I wanted to talk about an underrated release from one of my favorite artists, Howling Giant. They're a stoner rock trio out of Nashville* whom I encountered for the first time when they opened for space rock powerhouse King Buffalo, and later saw them again alongside Elder and Ruby the Hatchet.** Their early stuff is simple riff paradise, and recent releases have seen the band doubling down on the space rock of it all.*** Sergeant Thunderhoof is a great band that I know considerably less about, but my thoughts are that if you like one, you'll like the other.

I bought this split on vinyl because it was half the price of the others at the merch stand and I'm a cheap bastard. And fortunately so, because I love what Howling Giant and Sergeant Thunderhoof achieved together. The concept behind this concept album is one of my favorites; I'd talk more about the legend itself, but I thought you'd rather read the description below to hear what the artists have to say.****

This split is Chapter 2 in a series of splits put out by Ripple Music, a stoner rock record label. These "Turned to Stone" splits are great, I've listened to all nine so far.***** They're a great way to explore some of the selects of the underground stoner scene.

Finally, the album artwork of Masamune & Muramasa is intricate and compelling, especially up close on the vinyl sleeve. This album's cover was done by Sara-Jane Swettenham, based in Bath, who has done other Sergeant Thunderhoof album covers in a similarly distinctive style. It seems she used to sell prints of her work, but her Etsy storepage doesn't appear active so I will link to her Instagram as well.

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* You can tell by the mustaches. Keep on keeping on, Nashville.

** That later show I came specifically to see Howling Giant, though of course I knew the other bands. Everyone put on an excellent show. Ruby the Hatchet in particular was fun to watch; I'd jump at the chance to catch their high-energy heavy psych in the future.

*** I'd highly recommend Black Hole Space Wizard Part I and Part II, and am also partial to their debut EP. I'm also well aware that saying "I prefer their first album" makes me a chode, no need to point it out.

**** Wikipedia link with more info for the intellectually curious.

***** I prefer 1-4, your mileage may vary. They're all good; recent ones have been more desert rock, and earlier one are more psych/prog. Turned to Stone Chapter III features Merlin, a great band best known for their album Christ Killer, a re-telling of Nick Cave's Gladiator II in stoner doom format. Christ Killer is one of my all-time favorites, and Merlin is a band that reinforces what I said in my last post: KCMO is fucking cool.

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[From the band/label]

Chapter two of Ripple's new Turned to Stone series presents the story of two legendary Japanese sword smiths, Muramasa and Masamune, as told in interconnected musical movements by spacefaring psych-metal warriors Howling Giant and their equally cosmic riff-wielding British contemporaries Sergeant Thunderhoof.

In the two pieces, Muramasa and Masamune have a contest to determine whose sword smithery is superior, each crafting a blade of masterful quality and facing off by the edge of the river.

Instead of the typical approach with two bands contributing stand-alone sides of a record, Howling Giant and Sergeant Thunderhoof wanted to write an album that was thematically cohesive. Each side features a 20-minute song assembled via sharing of melodic ideas between the two bands during the writing process, and telling the story from the perspective of one of the sword smiths.