Van Groover Releases New Single, "Kolbenfresser" Ahead of Upcoming Compilation Album "Back To The Shop"
Van Groover released their debut album, "Honk If Parts Fall Off" in 2021, and it parked at 21st place on the Doom Charts. The trio went on to release music videos for the tracks Streetfood and Godeater on YouTube, never taking themselves too seriously while always maintaining a sense of professionalism.
The official music video for Streetfood
After the pandemic, Van Groover had a great festival season in 2022, performing with the likes of The Atomic Bitchwax, Emil Bulls, Motor Jesus, Gorilla Monsoon, and Bushfire. In early 2023, the band began writing new material in dirty parking lots (naturally), leading to songs that are "heavier, more mature, more rusty, and just oozing from oil". The resulting EP, "Back From The Shop" was released in September 2023 following some more shows, including a short "Vandurance" Tour with Stargo. Additionally, Back From The Shop hit #38 on the Doom Charts...not a bad year! In 2024, Van Groover teamed up with Broken Music Booking, starting the year off right by supporting Scorched Oak at their album release show.
The official music video for The Bandit, a song from the Back From The Shop EP
Now, on September 6, 2024, Van Groover will be releasing a compilation album called Back To The Shop, containing both new songs and some old favorites. According to the band, you can expect the new songs to be "darker than their predecessors, reminding [you] of genre monsters such as 1000 Mods, All Them Witches, and Kyuss". The album will be released on both vinyl and CD.
On August 15, 2024, Van Groover released the first heavy-hitting single from this upcoming album, "Kolbenfresser" ("piston seizure" in English).
Back To The Shop
Back To The Shop contains some tracks from Van Groover's September 2023 EP Back From The Shop, a few from their 2021 album Honk If Parts Fall Off, and four new songs:
- Silverback (new!)
- Kolbenfresser ["piston seizure" in English] (new!)
- Potmodel (new!)
- Big Dog (new!)
- The Grizz
- Streetfood
- The Bandit
- Roadrunner
- Bad Monkey
- Hexxxenhammer
- Double Wide
In this article, the focus will primarily be on the four new songs and how they compare to Van Groover's older material.
Silverback comes barreling in much like the gorilla it's named for: dominating and choppy, yet it somehow maintains a smoothed-out stoner groove. There's a palpable heavy psych undertone, and some crazy good percussion.
Kolbenfresser will knock you on your arse if you thought Silverback was as heavy as this was going to get. Both vocals and instrumentals add a massive amount of grit. Interestingly, there's an altogether tranquil psychedelic interlude with a great bass guitar feature that ties the ultra-heavy beginning and end of the song together.
Potmodel has a killer desert cowboy vibe. Mostly spoken-world vocals relate the tale of 119 Hastings Street and down-on-her-luck clothing store owner.
Big Dog, much like Silverback, does a great job of combining a tempest of sludge metal with its groovier counterparts: stoner and psychedelic rock. It thunders down the road, weaving those tales of the highway as only Van Groover can. Oh, and watch out for those truckers! Bastards...
Final Thoughts
In a nutshell, Van Groover proves on Back To The Shop that, while staying true to their roots and what makes them unique, they're constantly polishing their sound. In fact, the four new tracks on the album demonstrate an even more layered style, smartly utilizing the varying moods of stoner rock, sludge metal, and psychedelic rock to tell some great stories. In fact, this brings me to my favorite thing about Van Groover: they liberally use humor and spoken word parts that function like mini-skits. This provides a window into the band's personality and allows their music to flow much like a Quentin Tarantino film: trippy, quirky, and badass, always with a ton of character. Van Groover are true wizards when it comes to mixing a lot of fun with great storytelling, marked creativity, and skilled musicianship.
Get out there and check out Kolbenfresser, be ready for Back To The Shop to drop on September 6, 2024, and show Van Groover some much-deserved love!
More About Van Groover
You can follow Van Groover and listen to their music at the following links:
A massive thank you to Van Groover for sharing Back To The Shop with me!
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