Reviews for Good Morning Harakiri...

Rank & Revue

Ever what Soundgarden might sound like after being locked in a room with a batch of pot brownies and a steady diet of Pentagram LPs? I think you know where I’m going with that. Small Stone Record brings forth another winner in their long list of winners. In 2008, Small Stone released a record called “Tales” from a band called Iota that featured vocalist and song writer, Joey Toscano. The Dwellers are the succession of that project. Toscano, along with Zack Hatsis and Dave Jones (both formerly of Subrosa) bring six tracks of heavy melodic fuzzy psychedelic rock goodness. This power trio is performing alongside, Suplecs, Tia Carrera, Dixie Witch and more at the Small Stone Records showcase on March 16th, 2012 at Headhunters. The Dwellers open the show so get their early.

-Melvin Mc Michaels

The Sleeping Shaman

It’s not often I get a record to review that leaves me slightly stumped as to what to say about it!!! Featuring members of cult bands Iota and Subrosa this debut album offers up 6 lengthy tracks of fuzzy, psyched out hard rock that sit on the edges of Small Stone’s usual good time rock and roll and imbues it with an “out there” vibe more consistent with bands such as Tia Carrera. Why am I struggling to say anything about it? Well, on the one hand this is clearly a fine album but at the same time isn’t an album that grabs me by the short and curlies and pulls me in tight to breathe fetid whiskey fumes in my face…and as perverse as it may sound I kind of want that!!!

Opening track “Secret Revival” is a decent enough introduction. The “thundering, monumental low end” referred to in their bio is certainly present and guitarist Joey Toscano has a neat line in fuzzy, spacey riffing. Things do start to raise the heat on next track “Black Bird” however as the cosmic vibe is brought down to earth with a dirty southern style blues guitar complete with some nifty slide work and a gutsy vocal from Toscano. This down home “ribs and wings” vibe is carried forward into the next tune, “Vultures” which exhibits an almost Black keys style influence in the hazy sliding riff. At a shade over 10 minutes, however, it becomes evident that Dwellers could maybe use a little more focus in their approach to song writing. Some of the more rambling sections of songs would benefit from some judicious editing. Personally I would rather hear 10 shorter, more concise songs that highlight the band’s flair for writing some killer dirty, heavy blues riffs than wading through some of the more esoteric and formless passages that see my mind a driftin’!!!

“Ode To Inversion Layer”, despite the odd title that may hint at another rambling work out, is actually one of the shorter tunes on offer here and is a lovely dark, demonic blues with Toscano’s gruff howl. This track is stained with the mud of the delta and reeks of the sweat of some New Orleans basement dive. More of this please guys!!! Similarly “Lightening Ritual” is a killer, three and a half minute stomper that shows the band can lay down a thick and tasty groove. It is not without hints of C.O.C’s “Deliverance” album immersed in some dark voodoo blues.

Finally “Old Honey” is another lengthy slow burner that builds gradually and rolls along on a snaking riff. Dark, forbidding psychedelia lies at the heart of this song topped off by Toscano’s throaty roar. At close to ten minutes though it does test the patience a tad.

I do like this album more with repeated listens and, while the albums that grow on you tend to be the ones that stay with you longer, in today’s “quick fix”, ADHD driven society those albums that don’t grab you immediately don’t often get their chance to unfold themselves before the next slab of noise rolls along the conveyor belt to surpass it. There’s no doubt this is a fine album, but not a great one from a band that have a truly magnificent album lurking within them. I’ll certainly be keeping my eyes and ears open for album number two!!!

- Ollie Stygall

Doommantia

How does one make sonic magic? Well, start with a good production and catchy song writing and then proceed with an excellent rhythm section, finally, top all this off with a collection of dazzling riffs, solos and a fine vocal performance. All this considered I believe that Dwellers have concocted quite the musical brew.

At first glance of the band name, I was convinced I was about to go on a dark journey, but the strange, yet effective, cover had me confused as to the musical style. Cutting to the chase, Dwellers play hard rock, in their mix is a few nods to the doom and the stoner realms of things, but over all, hard rock is their genre and they spice things up nicely with some southern twang and grunge fuzziness.

Good Morning Hara-kiri opens up with Secret Revival, the opening riff had me raising an eyebrow due to its rather Nirvana inspired strumming, but soon after, the song opens up into a bass and drum fueled verse section that had me shamelessly rocking out. Soon the vocals kick in, and they fit in perfectly with the rest of the music. They are gruff when they need to be, and cleaner when most suitable, all in the all, the vocals are handled nicely through out the album. Secret Revival ends with a nice doom laden section that takes us into the next track.


Black Bird is consistently good as Secret Revival. Thrown into the mix are a little slide guitar and some terrific guitar work. It is always a good sign when I cannot seem to focus on what performance to listen to. Dwellers had me concentrating on each part separately; one minute I would be listening to the wonderfully tight drum fills, next the guitars, then the bass and so on. Black Bird not only cements the southern rock feel, but also the member’s musical competence.

Vultures had me slightly nervous. How does a band like this pull of an eleven-minute song? Dwellers do it just fine. Vultures never felt long for the sake of being long. It begins with another hard rock anthem that leads into an extended jam, laced with a little psychedelia for good measure. Behind this jam the bass and drums go at it like frantic lovers…Vultures is certainly recommended listening.

Ode to the Inversion Layer changes the pace up with a moody intro and then breaks back into what is expected: more great performances from the band. The vocals here are particularly strong, as is the guitar, which delivers hook after hook.

Lightning Ritual has a particular spring in its step and some nice Sabbathian riffing. This number has the standard rock song length and structure, which by no mean makes it a poor song; just rather, ordinary compared to the rest, especial the closing track.

Old Honey is a brilliant closer. It begins on an eerie tone with minimal drumming and clean, reverb heavy guitar that builds up into a great heavy mass of a riff that had me picturing voodoo rituals. Old Honey is an epic for sure; at nearly ten minutes, you had better bet that Dwellers has finely structured it with great riffs, excellent texturing and moments of a reflective quality.

Overall, Dweller’s Good Morning Hara-kiri is a necessary listen. The only fault I can hear in this release would be from matter of taste. Nevertheless, regardless of the obvious fact that people do not see eye to eye in everything, one thing I think every one (honest people at least) will note, is that this three piece can play their instruments and craft some nicely structured songs. I am glad to say that my first review of the new year is a winner. 10/10

-Brenden Butler

Broken Beard

Well, it turns out that Peace, and Other Horrors, the four-song EP Dwellers put out last year, was an experimental little project because there’s not much folksy, acoustic Americana Gothic to be found on their debut full-length, Good Morning Harakiri. Although, to be fair, Good Morning Harakiri does contain a good deal of slide guitar, but it’s used as a vehicle for delivering some grungy psych-blues instead. I suppose the idea behind this one is that the six songs included here are the musical equivalent of splitting yourself open and spilling your guts all over the place, and if that’s the case, this Salt Lake City trio (comprised of Iota and Subrosa members) has made one fine mess. While it is atmospheric, exotic, and trippy at times, Good Morning Harakiri is, ultimately, blessedly doomed, absolutely heavy, and full of Southern-fried muscle, and if Gideon Smith was to ever rip through a set of songs from Soundgarden’s Ultramega OK in Earth’s jam room, this is what it would sound like. Forget what it does to your insides - this ritual rock rattles your goddamn bones.

- Jeff Warren

Flight Of Pegasus (Greece)

Do not forget that Japanese manners this act is the ultimate act of restoring honor and dignity. You, however, if you feel obviously over stressed, bit confused, equally frustrated, then you have many chances to tune the content of the displayed traffic. As you know the profile of the company issuing it, you can quite easily guess what it is. The trio in this second album combines the stoner, the deranged blues, psychedelic sounds, has consistently sound American. Without taking up the speeds, play with the slowness of tired, speak freely, and when they decide to pull their thoughts a little more in length, even then weary, either because they have intensity or atmospheric as it is what you give. The vocals are consistently wild, skinned, and fittingly expressive of all the suffering that seems inspiring. Good job, raises its creators as honest.

Μην ξεχνάτε ότι για τα ιαπωνικά ήθη η συγκεκριμένη πράξη αποτελεί την ύστατη πράξη αποκατάστασης της τιμής και της αξιοπρέπειας. Εσείς πάντως, αν νιώθετε ζορισμένοι, κομματάκι μπερδεμένοι, άλλο τόσο απογοητευμένοι, τότε έχετε πολλές πιθανότητες να συντονιστείτε με το περιεχόμενο της παρουσιαζόμενης κυκλοφορίας. Καθώς γνωρίζετε το προφίλ της εταιρείας που το εκδίδει, μπορείτε σχετικά εύκολα να υποθέσετε περί τίνος πρόκειται. Το τρίο στο δεύτερο αυτό άλμπουμ του συνδυάζει το stoner, τα διαταραγμένα blues, ακούγεται ψυχεδελικό, διαθέτει σταθερά αμερικανικό ήχο. Χωρίς να πιάνουν τις μεγάλες ταχύτητες, παίζουν με τη βραδύτητα του ταλαιπωρημένου, εκφράζονται ελεύθερα, και όταν αποφασίζουν να τραβήξουν τους συλλογισμούς τους λίγο παραπάνω σε διάρκεια, ούτε τότε κουράζουν, είτε επειδή έχουν ένταση είτε επειδή είναι ατμοσφαιρικό αυτό που δίνουν. Τα φωνητικά τους είναι σταθερά άγρια, γδαρμένα, αλλά και ταιριαστά, εκφραστικά της όλης οδύνης που μάλλον τα εμπνέει. Ωραία δουλειά, προβάλλει τους δημιουργούς της ως ειλικρινείς.

The Obelisk

Also written as “seppuku,” the traditional Japanese practice of harakiri is a form of samurai ritual suicide wherein one plunges a short blade into one’s own belly and slices the blade from left to right. A second person stands behind with a sword and, at a previously-agreed-upon time after the person has disemboweled himself, strikes a decapitating blow. How the notion came to be incorporated with the debut full-length from Salt Lake City, Utah, heavy trio Dwellers, I don’t know, but if there’s some tie in with the theme of “spilling one’s guts,” I’d believe it. Good Morning Harakiri (Small Stone) rocks heavy and naturally for its vinyl-ready 41-minute duration, and is not without its sense of ritual. The band, which unites guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano of Iota with the same rhythm section that propelled SubRosa’s excellent 2011 offering, No Help for the Mighty Ones – that being bassist Dave Jones and drummer Zach Hatsis – is surprisingly assured in its approach for Good Morning Harakiri being the first album, and the six tracks play out with an organic, blues-based steadiness offset by genre-straddling excursions into psychedelia and doom.

In that way, Good Morning Harakiri is a fitting follow-up to Iota’s excellent 2008 Small Stone debut and swansong, Tales, which melded heavy and space rock together seamlessly and added psychedelic flourish even in Toscano’s vocals, which were melodic echoes from the deep reaches of the Andy Patterson mix (the label’s go-to knob-twiddler, Benny Grotto, also got a word in that regard). Patterson, who also drummed in Iota, handled production for Dwellers (he also did the SubRosa), and dials back that echo somewhat on Toscano’s singing, bringing him forward more early in the album so that, aside from closer “Old Honey,” the singing sounds more confident. And as much as one can read Good Morning Harakiri as an extension of some of Iota’s ideas – Toscano presumably being at the fore creatively in both bands adds to the validity of that read – there’s no discounting the fluidity and the depth of Jones’ and Hatsis’ contributions. Not only do they hold down the extended side A and B closers “Vultures” (10:12) and the aforementioned “Old Honey” (9:53) but they do so with range and personality befitting players well accustomed to working with each other. Also, rather than let Toscano range, so that it’s melody on one side and rhythm on another, with Dwellers, it’s the guitar, bass and drums working together as a solid unit, which is the power trio ideal, so that although every cut on Good Morning Harakiri begins with guitar, the album never strays too far in its indulgences.

Rather, it keeps somewhat to the sort of duality Iota showed in songwriting on Tales, balancing shorter, more straightforward material against longer pieces. With the exception again of “Old Honey,” the songs on Good Morning Harakiri are less space-oriented (and certainly less space-thematic), and though opener “Secret Revival” sets a bruising course after its crisply-strummed intro, the overall affect is more like an expansion on Facelift-era Alice in Chains, particularly given the tone of Toscano’s vocals. Hatsis’ kick is prominent but not dominating, and the already-considerable fuzz in Toscano’s guitar is given low-end boost by Jones on bass, which is smoothly toned and rich. Still, the song is notable in comparison to “New Mantis,” which opened Tales, for the intensity it doesn’t have. Where that song and “We are the Yithians” seemed almost in a rush get through themselves, both “Secret Revival” and “Black Bird,” which follows, replace that intensity with a firm grasp on a bluesy approach, and in the case of the latter, dead-on grooving stomp to match a semi-Southern riff. Not to belabor the point, but Good Morning Harakiri’s clear LP-minded presentation (that is, the two distinct sides that come through even on a CD or digital listen) marks another departure from Iota’s method, which bunched its longer songs together in a linear flow. Both work, but Dwellers shows more diversity in songwriting, so that while “Black Bird” veers into psychedelic guitar layering in its second half, “Vultures” is out of place neither with that nor the verses and chorus preceding, despite being longer and providing more room to jam.

That jam comprises pretty much everything after the midpoint of “Vultures,” and though Hatsis and Jones bring a clear-mindedness to the rhythms, I still wish for the purposes of structure that the chorus in the first half could have been revived at the end as a cap for side A. Instead, Toscano leads Dwellers with an extended solo into a slowdown of the central rhythmic figure and that’s how the track concludes. It’s a minor gripe, but in a way, it feels like Dwellers abandon the ideas they presented just a few minutes prior, and they were good ideas, and where they could have imbued “Vulture” with a sense of construction, they choose the admittedly more naturalistic approach of just letting it go. Toscano’s solo rages, so I can’t argue, and as side B opens with highlight cut “Ode to Inversion Layer,” any fix for structure is satisfied in the revival of the record’s earlier swampy drive. Likewise to Toscano’s vocals, which, as he repeats the lines, “I am not here/I’m dust and bones,” remind their most of Layne Staley and give Good Morning Harakiri its most instantly retainable hook. He’s farther back in the mix, and more echoed than on “Secret Revival” or “Black Bird,” which sets the tone for some of the second half of the album’s more psychedelic elements, but still sounds sure of himself in his singing. And where “Vulture” didn’t, “Ode to Inversion Layer” does revive its chorus following a solo break – at least musically – which proves enough to make the track a standout among its surroundings.

“Lightening Ritual” is both the shortest and most straightforward song on Good Morning Harakiri, and reminds some of Tales’ bluesier stretches, however bolstered it is – and it is – by the pulse of Hatsis’ kick. It is as close as Dwellers come to basic riff rock, and the heavy-landing start-stop of the second-half bridge to the final chorus justifies its position as a late-arriving anchor for the album, especially leading into “Old Honey,” which immediately communicates its more psychedelic feel with vibraphone (Hatsis) and warm bass rumbling beneath a moody and subdued vocal from Toscano. A short build ensues that brings slower-paced riffing a sense of spaced-out grandeur the rest of Good Morning Harakiri seemed to want to avoid. It’s well placed where it is, long after proper context is established, so that Toscano’s echoing yells weaving through the mass of guitar and bass seem to be a cosmic ebb and flow coming from the proverbial “somewhere else” to arrive at the ear. Expectedly, “Old Honey” has its jam, following a purposefully repetitive guitar lead with bass-propelled atmospherics that are both dark and engaging. The payoff arrives announced by a ride-cymbal wash and two tom thuds from Hatsis at 7:09, and is potent enough to act as culmination of Good Morning Harakiri as a whole. One imagines the lurching groove piped through a P.A. louder than god as a fitting apex, but even on a stereo the energy and vibe is there as the band hits their final crashes and thumps to their close.

As someone who still revisits Tales periodically to be ensnared in its balance of space and heavy rock, hearing those elements come forward again on “Old Honey” is like a new letter from an old friend, but Dwellers work quickly on Good Morning Harakiri to establish that although Toscano plays a prominent role in both bands, this is a different trio than was Iota, with different goals for sound and a distinct approach. For what it’s worth, I can see greater potential for future development in Dwellers, whose avenues for exploration of the blues, spaced jamming and heavy riffing seem wide open, and if I was going to mourn the loss of Iota, Good Morning Harakiri more or less disembowels that impulse. As Toscano, Jones and Hatsis grow as a unit, doubtless too their sonic palette will expand as well, and given what comes through on these six tracks, that potential isn’t worth any trade that might or might not be on offer. Recommended without reservation both to those who experienced Iota and those who didn’t.

- H.P. Taskmaster

The Soda Shop

Back in 2008, Small Stone Records released an album called Tales by a band called Iota. It was a great album that I didn’t discover until early 2011. Disappointed that there was going to be no followup, I quickly discovered The Dwellers main song writer and vocalist Joey Toscano. The demo that the band had posted to their Facebook page was damn good and I couldn’t wait to hear more. It’ was a very bluesy sounding song although to me, it didn’t sound like an Iota song. I was ok with that though.

It turns out that you can probably consider Good Morning Harakiri an unofficial followup to Tales. Due to Mr. Toscano’s voice and song writing, a lot of the personality from Iota are present in The Dwellers sound. Zach Hatsis and Dave Jones make up the rest of the band. They were previously in a doom band called Subrosa. The three are no strangers to making good music. Combine the 3 together and you have one hell of a lineup and one hell of an album. The opening track to Good Morning Harakiri, “Secret Revival” sounds like a doomy Soundgarden song to me. It’s heavy and crushing riffs get your attention. The heavy sound, combined with lots of psychedelic slide guitar, crushing riffs, doomy overtones, a warm fuzzy sound and melodic vocals round up for a huge album. I was privileged enough to hear an unmastered copy of the album last month and I knew right then and there, this album was going to rock your nuts off.

Rumors, prophets and nutcases claim that the world is going to end in 2012. I think it’s probably going to come true but not because the ancient Mayans didn’t have time to finish their calendars, it’s because the Dwellers have released such a huge and epic album. 2012 is going to start off right and proper and The Dwellers are going to take charge and lead the pack. 2012 isn’t going to end with a bang but rather start with one. It’s early but this album will most likely end up in my top 20 of 2012 list. Bold I know, but, you’ll believe me once you hear it. Good Morning Harakiri is set for official release March 13,th 2012 although you can score a copy on iTunes right now. Knowing Small Stone Records, the CD will be available very shortly.

Metrotimes - City Slang

Good Morning Harakiri is the latest release from the magnificent Small Stone Records, and while it has the sludge and the drone to fit in, this is more Alice in Chains than Black Sabbath. The tunes are there, buried beneath a ton of tar, and the harmonies are impressive, though this isn’t a record to cheer you up on a bad day.

- Brett Callwood

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1. Secret Revival
2. Black Bird
3. Vultures
4. Ode to Inversion Layer
5. Lightening Ritual
6. Old Honey