woensdag 27 maart 2024

Scorched Oak – Perception

 

 

Scorched Oak – Perception
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Doom, Stoner, Metal
Rated: ****

We’ve been listening to the German three called Scorched Oak ever since we heard that damn fine Withering Earth album back in 2020. It jumped to the Top 10 of that months Doom Charts and rightfully so. And their new album Perception has everything on board to do even better! It also comes at a better time, cause with Withering Earth releasing during the pandemic, they could not really tour that album. With Perception they can, will, shall and with a vengeance. In fact, for all my fellow Dutchies, they will be playing the formidable Love For Loud Fest in Amsterdam, this Friday the 29th of March. A date that is not to be missed! And an album that needs to be heard! Perception’s biggest change compared to Withering Earth, is perhaps the use of vocals. To be begin with, there are more. Bass player Linda Hackman can be heard on many songs, with excellent vocals that both move and inspire. With the exact amount of careening, almost flying out of the curve here and there, her vocals will surge through your blood and either fire you up or give you goosebumps. There are tales of woe and elation, and you will feel them all. And then there are those little sighs and whispered sounds, that will do all sorts of other things to you. Guitarist Ben Plochowietz delivered most of the sparing vocals on that first Withering Earth album but did so on that album splendidly. They had its own color and even though you could hear he was trying to find the best way to use them, he sounded like he would be comfortable with his voice soon enough and it sounded on the verge of becoming amazing. On Perception, he also uses his voice more, but has now decided to set his voice to a burling tone. Which doesn’t seem to work constantly, on a few occasions even sounding like has just finished a bottle of coke and desperately needs to belch. It’s the Rob Zombie approach to singing, and I loved his earlier vocalization more. But there surely will also be fans out there on the opposite side, digging it a lot. And don’t get me wrong, there are parts on the new album where it definitely works, but also where, for me personally, it doesn't. And that’s the sole reason, this album isn’t the best album of 2024 for me, but it is still high up on the list though. Extremely high! And for many reasons…

Just listen to opening track and single, with cool video, Delusion. The way it immediately sets the scene, with its Eastern motif, painting that windswept, purple dawn of the desert. The shadowy silhouettes traversing the endless dunes, before the sound, the volume, the fullness slowly builds towards that crash, the wonderful sigh and the powerful push that follows. That luscious drum work, melodic, shifting, like the sand beneath your feet. It continues in another amazing track that follows called Mirrors. A highlight in vocals once again, a doomier approach to the riffs and the drums. Often spilling an atmosphere around you of a night sky about to tumble down. The calmer moments feeling like the last seconds you can still see the stars reflected in the motionless oasis water. Mirrors… And Mirrors, with that space, kraut influenced end part, so danceable and possibly a part that could be extended live for ages, when they see the crow go wild. A part that returns in a slightly different form in bonus track Wizard. Need to hear one more track to be convinced? Well, of course third track Relief is there for you, another more metal approach to their sound. Stomping, motoring, inching towards an edge you never knew was there. But personally, I reckon Echoes, which is another highlight in vocals, will be able to cross boundaries and make fans out of everyone. And together with the opener it’s their most stoner rock and accessible track. And then there are still the amazing Reflection and the brilliant Oracle still to follow. And after this incredibly album has finished and so many words written down, not really my best of writing, I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Esben Willems at his Studio Berserk, and who you might know from Monolord, mixed the album! And there is still bonus track Wizard, which is probably called bonus track because it feels less in place with the rest of the themes and atmosphere on the album, but still holds so much great rock. Those riffs, that bass work, those drums, they will cast a spell on you. Perception is an album that should cement Scorched Oak’s place in the heavy rock firmament. And like a bright shining star it will guide all of us heavy rock fiends to the right place to rock out. And buy their vinyl… And they do that all themselves… What? Wait? They are still unsigned? 

(Written by JK)




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Greenleaf - Breathe, Breathe Out

 

Greenleaf - Breathe, Breathe Out

It’s the new Greenleaf single, out since some 18 hours and spreading like wildfire! And rightfully so! Breathe, Breathe Out has everything you love about Greenleaf! And you love so much. If there’s one band that has really carved out its own sound, its own signature, it is definitely Greenleaf! And we can’t wait to hear the full album: The Head & The Habit! Check out the first single and damn cool video below… And go and demand those shirt be printed just like the rest of us!

 

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dinsdag 26 maart 2024

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…


No Man’s Valley
Full Earth
Iron Jinn
Fischer-Z
Khirki
Acid Mammoth
Lie Heavy
River Lucifer
Hypnosaur
Abrams

The week has flown by! Rent paying work, life, you know the deal, it all got in the way of the good stuff again… So, we weren’t able to do as much as we have hoped. Also, because Friday was taken up by all those Doom Charts Freebies. Did you grab any? Found your new favorite album? Hope so, if not, check the ones above… Or check out Sonic Wolves’s III album, we were honored to deliver the premiere for that wild rocker. But besides all that Sonic Wolves stuff, we were only able to write a few words about Full Earth’s Cloud Sculptures. Which is big in every sense of the word! And yes, because of an interview, the new Fischer-Z album Triptych was on heavy rotation. The old new wave punk, has gone full troubadour. Here’s hoping we have time to do more this week. Enjoy yours!

zaterdag 23 maart 2024

Full Earth – Cloud Sculpters

 

 

Full Earth – Cloud Sculpters
Stickman Records – 2024
Rock, Prog, Fusion, Kraut, Instrumental
Rated: ***

It was released a week ago digitally, the debut album by the new five-piece from Oslo called Full Earth. Formed by Kanaan-drummer Ingvald André Vassbø to see even more of his inspirations, ideas and conceptions come to live. He immediately implored the aid of his two Kanaan companions, guitarist Ask Vatn Strøm and bassist Eskild Myrvoll, who plays guitar, synth and samples for this album. To round out the quintet he got jazz bassist Simen Wie and for keys and organ Øystein Heide Aadland who you might know from the Drongo project. Well, together they formed a band whose names and deeds were to be retold throughout history and their first album would be called: Cloud Sculptures. A prog rock extravaganza lasting almost one and a half hours. Divided into six tracks, four of which lasting from almost fifteen minutes to over twenty minutes. And two shorter compositions. If that sounds big, you will feel dwarfed when you finally start listening. The first two compositions are an album in their own right, totaling forty-one minutes, and spending all those minutes in a whirling progressive adventure, which feels as imaginative as it feels powerful. Building segments, prolonged releases, expert instrumentation and with so much happening around you that you will feel the world spin out of control around you. And as you become overwhelmed by the entire experience, they manage to give you just the perfect handle to hold on to and to keep moving forward. And on some level you will never want Full Earth Pt1 – Emanation or the following title track Cloud Sculptures to end. And that is why third track Weltgeist, feels as the unwelcome interlude, a rude gaseous stopping point for the cosmic trip you were on. The bathroom break you did not need. On some level I can understand the need for this kind of extrapolation of vaporous keywork, but it seems out of tune with all that you had been experiencing on those first two tracks. Even though fourth track The Collective Unconscious starts by building on Weltgeist, but you immediately feel this is going places. It will not stay the intangible essence of what Weltgeist turns out to be. And by that fourth track you are already an hour deep into Cloud Sculptures and there is still so much more to come. And yes, I am all for more and more and just a bit more. But as Echo Tears bubbles over me, I cannot help but think, that like Weltgeist, it feels out of tune with the other tracks. Where everything on the album became more and more, more instrumentation, more segments, more minutes of wonderful prog rock, Echo Tears turned a minimalist corner. There is wonderment here, and there is a definite trance inducing capability about the entire organ driven arrangement as they dance around each other. But it’s almost as if it’s meant for an entirely different experience than those prog rock wonders of before. Even though, once again final track Full Earth Pt II – Disintegration does build upon the resonance left behind by Echo Tears. Slowly turning into a chaotic overture, destroying time signatures, melodicism and then turning back around and into this dynamic, but still extremely turbulent abstract, and expressionistic drip like prog. It is wild, awe-inspiring, shocking, and so is looking back on the almost one and half hours of Full Earth. There is so much and perhaps, and I hardly ever say this, there is a too much. It’s difficult to wrap your mind around all you heard and experienced. Full Earth is so full of everything, it might make your head explode. Perhaps that is the reason there is so much. Ingvald André Vassbø had to let everything out… Cause if you are so extremely full of ideas and inspiration, you’d better let it out… If not, you might explode...


(Written by JK)




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woensdag 20 maart 2024

Full Album Premiere – Sonic Wolves – III

 

 

Full Album Premiere – Sonic Wolves – III

The review for this wonderful album went up only a few hours ago! Italian freak masters Sonic Wolves have delivered a masterpiece of chaos and fury; and made III a righteous tour-de-force! They kick out the jams in such an electrifying way, it would make MC5 jealous! A five star album everyone should hear… You can read all our thoughts if you scroll down or click HERE… And we are honored to present to you the FULL ALBUM PREMIERE for that wonderful album! Go check it out below!




Sonic Wolves - III - REVIEW


Hey, and if you don’t want to take our word for it…
|
Go visit Outlaws of the Sun and see what Steve Howe says…

Or Desert Psychlist with Frazer Jones’s take!

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Sonic Wolves – III

 

 

Sonic Wolves – III
Argonauta Records – 2024
Hardrock, Garage, Seventies, Blues, Psych, Proto
Rated: *****

They hail from Alessandria, Italy and have been putting out music for over ten years. And with spurs earned in bands like Ufomammut, Pentagram and Mortuary Drape you can safely state that the Sonic Wolves three are a powerhouse power trio! And that their third album III is one that needs to be devoured as soon as it hits the streets! Well, you are in luck my friends! The release date is just around the corner, this Friday to be exact, and you are even more in luck if you follow Stoner HiVe by coincidence, cause we get to do the premiere today for this wild and wonderful record! The Full Album Premiere will be going live in a few hours, but first lets dive into their third full-sized album called III. An album fans have been waiting for, for more than six years. Formed in 2012 by drummer Vita (ex-Ufomammut) and bassist/singer Kayt Vigil (ex-Pentagram and ex-The House of Hasselvander) they found a new guitarist in Nico Nigro back in 2022. The new guitar blood resulted in Sonic Wolves evolving, becoming even more feral, dangerous, and having to lay down the tracks that will surely be coursing through your veins after that first time you hear III in full. Bursting out of the gates with that second single Shapeshifter, a wild, seventies inspired, proto loving, hard rocking battering ram that is chuck full of riffs, drums and amazing bass work! The way they make the chaotic and the excessive come together to form harmony and delight. It will feel like freedom personified, the ability to do whatever the hell you want. Which seems to be the main emotion throughout the record, which is also the main lyrical focal point on most of the songs. Jailbreak in the literal sense, like on Shapeshifter. Or escaping the prison of one’s mind, it's all there to hint at the freedom that hides within humans across the globe. Hitting you in strides, after that opener, is an eleven and half minute rocker called O.B.E. Which opens like a logical, expanding and explosive follow-up to Shapeshifter. Freak blues, freak out psych all rolled into one; but just before the halfway mark it slows down, dissipating into an ambient almost amniotic ebb and flow, a calm and tranquil rippling of sound, which does not immediately soothe the soul because of the eerie and haunting sounds floating around as well. Third track Dead To The World takes you back to the trash can kicking, freak out psych, seventies blues and garage. Highly energetic and powerful, the guitar once again is allowed to take center stage and furiously deliver his groovy and overwhelming axe-work. Dark Recollection, shifts down one notch, but only in tempo, not in the output showing off their technical tour-de-force. And where this kind of technical playing often lacks soul and groove, this isn’t the case with Sonic Wolves. It might tire you from spending all your energy to keep up, but it is never tiresome. On the contrary, its riveting and invigorating, it will have you bouncing off the walls and dancing on the ceiling. They slow down once more to atmospheric, spacey and calming sonic waters after three minutes of Heavy Lies The Crown. But that will be all the respite and ease you get, for the three tracks that follow are all blow out, festive, metal touched and full of vigor. III is highly explosive! Why yes! On their third full-sized album Sonic Wolves show us they like to burn the candle at both ends, and that those candles are sticks of dynamite! Sonic Wolves are here to make it all go boom!


(Written by JK)


So... Want to hear the Full Album?
Check in again in a few hours to hear Sonic Wolves's III in Full! 



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maandag 18 maart 2024

Stoner HiVe’s Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…

 

 

Stoner HiVe’s
Top 10 Most Listened Artists Last Week…


Scorched Oak
Creature With The Atom Brain
Peuk
Hypnosaur
Stygian Crown
Abrams
Pumping Flamingo
Shotgun Valium
Vitskär Süden
Full Tone Generator

G'mornin! A new week has started! And we get to do another Full Album Premiere this Thursday! So, better check in this Thursday right?! Did you check out that Sons Of Morpheus album Fruits? I hope you did. Cause it’s a diesel blues rocking stoner gem and you can read more ab out it HERE. That Sixteentimes Music label has some damn fine releases every year. You might want to check out the entire catalogue in fact, it’s bordering on the insane, the amount of quality there. We also did a Single Premiere for Elk Witch, Ghost Of The Lupatia has a beautiful video and musically it heralds the coming of that amazing Azimuth album out April 12 on Majestic Mountain Records. We talked about the new Chelsea Wolfe and Dekonstruktor and did a Quick Fire Friday session besides getting the February Peroration Post up for the Doom Charts. And just yesterday, on Sunday we talked about that crazy eighties loving Hypnosaur release. I know we could and should do better, but on average, I’d say, not a bad week all in all. Let’s hope we can do at least as much in the upcoming week. Check out those posts from last week if you haven't and check out those amazing albums we listened to the most last week!Enjoy!

zondag 17 maart 2024

Hypnosaur – Undead Invaders Born To Die In A Maze

 

 

Hypnosaur – Undead Invaders Born To Die In A Maze
Self-released – 2024
Rock, Metal, Pop, Glam, Seventies
Rated: ****

According to all leading paleontologists, dinosaurs went extinct some 65 million years ago after living on earth for 165 million years, give or take a few days. But after listening to the new four-track release called Undead Invaders Born To Die In A Maze you can safely assume that there was at least one still alive in the eighties and still very much alive today! It’s the Hypnosaur! And we’ve been following that telekinetic wonder lizard ever since hearing its damn amazing Doomsday album back in 2023. The sound of that record which implored a lot of Ghost touches, glam metal and other wonderful eighties influences is still present on the new release Undead Invaders Born To Die In A Maze. This time however we hear it on opening track Undead to some extent, which uses chilling guttural crocodile vocals to get its message across. Turning into operatic sequence here and there and becoming highly catchy and poppy during the refrains and whenever they are building towards them. It is also very very very present on third track Born To Die, with its Dracula toned keywork, and a vocalist that stretches every part of his range and ability. Hooks a plenty and lovely guitarwork, and all of that is secondary to that majestic keyboard sound. Haunting, yet o’ so lovely and very hypnotic! Every song title is part of the four track EP Title, for the translation for Inwazja z Plutona is Invaders From Pluto. That’s right, second track, first single and cover from the band Kombi, Inwazja z Plutona, is the Invaders part of the title and was mentioned on the HiVe back in December and misses that Ghost touch but substitutes that for some delicious stonerized eighties synth-pop. A voice eerily resembling the original vocalist and an infectious rhythm will have you searching for your dancing shoes in no time. But before you get your groove on, it’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I am all out of gum. The Maze ends this EP with a few momentary vocal touchstones that remind of something more eighties postpunk related before going forth with the eighties metal schematics. Musically so light-footed, lyrically so dark. Musically energetic and uplifting, as much as the classic rock from yore, with all instruments in service of the vocals, which translate so much of those dark lyrics into a rainbow colored labyrinth. And those drums, wicked! O’ and don’t be afraid to check out their videos on YouTube, ranging from amazing to hilarious, to boldly showing off their musical ability, and their stunning good looks, the Hypnosaur four know how to work the camera! And specially check out The Maze! Shot in honor of all those great classic Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem and Doom games… Mein leben! Indeed, the Hypnosaur has humor, got style, a lot of eighties love and the ability to turn it all into a kaleidoscopic catchy rock diamond!  


(Written by JK)




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vrijdag 15 maart 2024

Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

 


Stoner HiVe’s Quick Fire Friday

Is that the first Quick Fire Friday of 2024? It seems so! We haven’t done one since December before the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023 started. That’s like, three months ago! Yikes! Well, we’re here now. And ready to spread the good word on a truckload of heavy releases! We usually mention singles and EP’s, but sometimes an older album as well! And you know why we do this. Because there is so unbelievable much of great music out there and we can not mention everything. The small thing we can do of course, is another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday round! A small amount of words to get the good word out! The good word about something heavy and something cool! Check it out below… And we know… There is so much out there, so much good and heavy stuff, and we just simply cannot ever do it all justice. But here it is… Another Stoner HiVe Quick Fire Friday! And it burns hot like molten lava!



Stash - The Rojo Tapes

Fourpiece Stash delivered their first album called Through Rose Coloured Glasses in September 2022 and re-released five of those tracks almost exactly a year later with an EP called The Rojo Tapes. Not completely sure why they did that, cause the versions are exactly the same. But, they’re damn fine and could use the extra attention! Five gritty and burly stoner metal and sludge metal tracks. A touch of southern, a load of metal and an almighty groove! Dig in to that Stash!


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Sons of Arrakis – Scattering

Back in 2022 they released their Volume I album and it ended up on Number 18 of the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2022 according to all your votes. We’re talking about Sons Of Arrakis and they are about to release a new album called Volume II on that fine label called Black Throne Productions. Now, I know, the single has been out for a few weeks. But we find it irresistible and reckon everyone should have Scattering on repeat. Please let me know if you feel the same! And if you think they might get more views now thanks to all the attention for the Dune movies? Let's hope so, cause they deserve to be heard by one and all...


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MaidaVale – Faces (Where is life)

Another single that was released a week or two ago, Faces (Where is life) by Swedish quartet MaidaVale. Switching from The Sign Records to Silver Dagger Records for their new, third album Sun Dog the sound took on an even sunnier, world music and afrobeat vibe. Especially on this first single. And on May 3rd you will get to hear the rest of Sun Dog, and their still entirely groovy take on psychedelia, krautrock and that seventies vibe! It’s all happening!


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Hollow Leg – Poison Bite

This single slash video was released, Yesterday! We’re referring to Poison Bite by the Florida four called Hollow Leg. It’s the lead single for their new release coming up May 3rd called Dust. And we can be sure it will be filled with more gnarly doom and brutish sludge. That doom groove, that massif tone and that unending nod. Get bit!


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Hydra – Into The Night

It’s been out a week! The new three song EP by the Polish four called Hydra. Doom metal, stonerrock, sludge and roll and with such a majestic groove that you will be headbanging as that very first break commences and that groove starts and after that, you are hooked and won’t stop banging along! And then the vocals kick in, immediately taking it into proto and classic heavy metal territory. Out on Piranha Music, the three tracks on Into The Night are pure glittering metal gold!


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Cannabus – Desert Trip

Out… TODAY! The new Desert Trip single by the stoner rock band from Welland, Ontario, Canada called Cannabus! It’s the lead single for their new EP called Other Side arriving April 19th and it’s a scorcher! Once again on that crazy Black Throne Productions label, the new single sports all that seventies guitar work, laced with stonerrock and rolled up into a blues groove. Majestic is an understatement! And did we mention we love all their artwork?


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Iron Jinn – Truth Is Your Dagger (Live At Roadburn)

We already mentioned the first single from the soon to be released Iron Jinn live album. Lick It Or Kick It kicked the door open for that Live At Roadburn album that will arrive through Lay Bare Recordings on April 5th. And to show you more, they released Truth Is Your Dagger a week or two ago as well. It was the first time they jammed it in this particular version… “…way and it just clicked. Special guest on keys Jarno Van Es (since this show a full band member) adds a big scoop of 'Bitches Brew' and he and Oeds dive into some minimal territories evoking a somewhat heavier Steve Reich, since then we dubbed it 'Reich & Roll.' It's moments like these why we believe this record needs to be out there.” As Wout Kemkens stated…


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Redstone – Immortal

And we end this Quick Fire Friday segment with a serious stoner metal kick in the nuts! Out since March 8th, the second EP by French quintet Redstone! Immortal is metal, stoner metal, sludge tones and a few of these more atmospheric passages and more metal, and even a bit of progressive meandering. Immortal sports five tracks and all five have this fierce and feral attitude. Savage, and yes, a whole lot of attitude!  


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donderdag 14 maart 2024

Single premiere - Elk Witch - Ghost of The Lupatia

 

 

Single premiere - Elk Witch - Ghost of The Lupatia

We were honored to bring you a full album premiere this morning, but that’s not enough for this Thursday. Nope, there’s more! And so, we invite you all for another premiere right now, this very evening! It’s the new single and video Ghost of The Lupatia by the Medford, Oregon three called Elk Witch. It’s the second single for their new album Azimuth which will be released through Majestic Mountain Records on April 12. We’re equally grateful to be able to present this wild rocker to you all. A gorgeous video to accompany their mountainous metal and shimmering stonerrock, a song that carries with it, a very own atmosphere and setting, expressive and emotive. And so does the video. I love dogs.






Deven Andersen, vocalist and guitarist of Elk Witch, comments:

Ghosts of the Lupatia was written after our bass player Darren Wostenberg came in with the idea about this specific shipwreck that occurred in the 1800’s off the coast of Oregon, a tragedy that claimed the lives of the entire crew. The area is a part of the “Graveyard of the Pacific” and is known for shipwrecks and watery deaths. It’s shrouded in ghostly legends of phantom ships and lifeboats emerging from the dark mists. In the 1800’s death was closer for those who ventured to the edges of the known world and people died much younger. We wanted to try capture that vibe with this song.”


 About the album:

Azimuth is a natural progression from our first album, pushing the ingredients of those songs into a more refined and diverse selection of songs. This time around, we're delving into broader subject matters that extend beyond the earthly realms, exploring both the past and the future of existence. The title 'Azimuth' felt like the perfect fit, symbolizing direction and serving as the compass that guided us through the album's creation. In terms of sound, we aimed to obtain a sound that was operating at higher sonic level while also achieving clarity but retaining the core sound we have developed. Recording was a process, we spent 20 days tracking and 45 days mixing, with a significant time spent building in some additional underlying layers. Our goal was to enhance the production value compared to our last album, all while staying consistent with delivering original hand-painted artwork for the album cover. We hope all this comes through in finished record.”


Track list:

SIDE A:
Dead Silence – 4:59
Azimuth– 6:00
Liminal Space – 1:32
Empyrean – 5:35

SIDE B:
Vortex – 2:41
Universe 25 – 3:23
Space Drift – 4:01
Ghosts of the Lupatia – 5:05
Goddess of Winter – 4:36

Credits:

Deven Andersen ~ Guitar / Vocals
Darren Wostenberg ~ Bass
Joe Coitus ~ Drums
Produced by: Elk Witch
Engineered by: Deven Andersen
Mixed by: Deven Andersen
Recorded & Mixed at Vortex Studios – Central Point, Oregon
Mastered by: Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio – New Windsor, New York @srmmastering
Album Cover: Adam Burke @nightjarillustration
Gatefold Images: @Nibera and @Jadoarts
Gatefold Layout & Graphics: Deven Andersen

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