4 Excellent Bands I Found from Blogging: Duel, High Desert Queen, Isaak, & Young Acid – Part 1

I started preparing for the Jam Yeti Music Blog several months ago. I was writing a bunch of reviews trying to build content for the site before I actually launched it. A lot of the band information was coming from several record labels’ BandCamp pages. The main labels I follow are: Ripple Music, Heavy Psych Sounds, Blues Funeral Recordings, Small Stone Records, Magnet Eye Records, and Fuzzorama Records. Like I mentioned the other day, The Obelisk site has been a big help on discovering new bands and releases. With that being said, I would like to share four bands that I discovered as a result of my blogging research. I have heard the names of some of these bands before but finally got around to actually listen to them. I discovered that these mentioned bands are all great! I really dove into their music, past and present, and I enjoy all of it. A cool part about doing this blog is discovering great bands. This is only the beginning! I have since discovered more to add to this list but I wanted to start by focusing on only four at a time. I decided to review these in alphabetical order. I encourage everyone to check out these bands, if you haven’t already. 

Duel, from Austin, Texas has been on my radar for a while now. I have listened to bits and pieces of songs but at the time, they didn’t quite connect with me. However, when their latest album Breakfast With Death (review here) came out, I gave them another listen. I’m so glad I did! Maybe it’s the thrash metal sound on this record that sold me, bringing me back to my teenage years, or just the sheer ferocity of the music. Either way, I finally connected with Duel and listened to Breakfast With Death, over and over again. I then proceeded to start from the beginning of their catalog, and was pleasantly impressed with their sound. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that it’s the same band from their debut, 2016’s Fears Of The Dead, and the second record too, 2017’s Witchbanger. The proto-metal sound was in full effect with these two, reminding me of early Pentagram. The next two records, 2019’s Valley Of Shadows and 2021’s In Carne Persona, showed considerable progression in the songwriting with more melodies and dynamics in the music. Finally, the band released Breakfast With Death earlier this year. Instead of staying the course and softening up their sound as some bands do, Duel stripped it back down and got more aggressive and dirty. They completely turned it around and incorporated more thrash and punk grittiness into their sound. I really applaud the band for this and love all of their material, thus far. Breakfast With Death really hooked me into the band. All of their releases are on Heavy Psych Sounds.

High Desert Queen is also from Austin, Texas. I first heard about them from The Obelisk site, reviewing their latest Palm Reader (review here) album and I also listened to an interview on Heavy Galaxy podcast. They are categorized as a desert rock band and that is only a starting point on describing their music. High Desert Queen is awesome! They have the bluesy riff rock sound that I love with strong and powerful vocals. I am a big fan of their sound and what really solidified my liking of the band was seeing them perform live (review here), opening for the mighty Dozer. They were amazing live and Palm Reader, which is on Magnetic Eye Records is a killer record! I also checked out their debut record, 2021’s Secrets Of The Black Moon, released on Ripple Music. It too, is a very enjoyable listen but Palm Reader is the next level for High Desert Queen. I look forward to seeing where this band will advance to next. 

Isaak, from Italy, really blew me away! My introduction to them was through the Split record with Geezer, entitled Interstellar Cosmic Blues & The Riffalicious Stoner Dudes (review here). The three tracks on the split really moved me. Isaak are a hard hitting band that displays some heavy and interesting riffage. This prompted me to listen to more of their music. I started with last year’s 2023 album, Hey (review here). I was completely blown away! There is something really cool and satisfying about this record. They have a varied style of stoner rock, hardcore, and metal with the perfect blend of each. I proceeded to work backwards through their releases and listened to 2016’s Sermonize, 2015’s The Choice EP, and finally their 2013 debut, The Longer The Beard, The Harder The Sound. I’m a huge fan of all of it! The first two albums are on Small Stone Records and the two latest ones are on Heavy Psych Sounds. They are another band to look out for, excellent music all around.

Young Acid is a supergroup from Sweden. Thanks again to The Obelisk for introducing me to their music. Arvid Hällagård, the vocalist for Greenleaf and Martin Wegeland, bassist for Domkraft, are in this band. The music is straight ahead rock, described as punk, and sounds nothing like Greenleaf or Domkraft. They released their debut album called Murder At Maple Mountain (review here) on Majestic Mountain Records. I have really enjoyed this record a lot! It took some listens to really get into it but it was well worth it. I am hoping that this release was not just a one off and that Young Acid will record another album. 

Well, there you have it. Four excellent bands with a variety of sounds from each of them. The pleasure of discovering new bands is awesome. There is so much good music coming out these days that it’s going to be hard to tally up my year end favorites list. The Jam Yeti Music Blog has opened my mind and ears up to some new and exciting music. The list is only going to grow as I keep seeking out and exploring what’s out there. There will definitely be a part 2 of this post, and beyond. I encourage people to check out these bands and share some new finds in the comments section. Thanks for reading!