Howling Giant is what happens when three nerds write about space travel, doomed seafarers, and a sentient android hellbent for a camel killing death crusade. Howling Giant plays self-indulgent, drop-tuned, fuzzed out riffs that could curdle milk.

With the release of their upcoming EP, Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1, due out on August 12th, the fuzz rockers from Nashville, TN have premiered their video and second single “Dirtmouth” (streaming below).

Howling Giant! The very name summons up mental images of a huge mutated orc-warrior astride an even more gigantic mastodon, ready to bring death, doom, damnation and destruction (and many other things beginning with “d”) down upon its enemies.

Names matter, and something magical happened when three nerds obsessed with all that is fuzzed-out, riffed-out, and heavy came together to compose cosmic odes to space travel, doomed sea-farers, and even an android on a camel-killing crusade (what harm did the poor camel ever do to him?), under the name Howling Giant.

Drummer Zach Wheeler says the name is no accident and reflects the band’s music. “Howling Giant sounds a lot like a loud beast, which is what we strive to do musically. We aim to create a full sound that people might normally expect from a five-piece rather than a power-trio.” Indeed, by employing the three-piece format, Howling Giant is following in the footsteps of legends like Motorhead, MC5, Cream, and Corrosion of Conformity; good company to be in! As the band’s philosophy would have it wisely: “Teamwork makes the dream work.”

Hailing from Nashville, Howling Giant obviously had some special metal immunity to all the country and western music in the air. The boys started jamming at school in Boston with an aim to move away from overtly serious music and have fun, describing their music accurately as “loud, energetic, heavy, melodic, and cosmic.”

Overall, Howling Giant’s music forms part of a fascinating Black Hole Space Wizard concept EP series. As guitarist Tom Polzine explains, “Musically we aim to write songs that are melodic, catchy, and head bang-able. As a concept series, we strive to conjure up space-themed imagery of heroes and villains at war, introducing the story and setting the scene of things to come within the Black Hole Space Wizard Universe. We’re not trying to spell out the entire story so much as we are creating scenes to provoke your imagination.”

Writing is very much a collaborative effort. “We usually come up with a general theme, then we write riffs and musical passages to support said theme. After that, we work on overall arrangements to create a nice flow and build within the song. Lyrics and vocal melodies come last as an icing on a very meaty cake. We find the flow of an album is just as important as the flow of an individual song and we strive to make each song unique. We wanted to include a combination of heavy, spacey, doom, and thrash, all wrapped up in a crunchy garage-sounding blanket. Fans can expect two more EPs within the Black Hole Space Wizard Universe. And with an overflowing riff bank, who knows how long we’ll go.”

Such far-out music deserves far-out lyrics, and Howling Giant is prepared to go to extreme lengths to get them. As bassist Roger Marks reveals, “We have a strict regimen of smashing our heads into walls daily until lyrics finally come to us.” As for inspiration, “We are inspired by science fiction and occult rituals, as well as books, movies, and other music.”

As part of an overall concept, the EP paints four distinct scenes.

The pinnacle of mankind.
An exodus from Earth.
The Black Hole Space Wizard destroying everything.
A lone survivor trapped on a ravaged Mother Earth.

In Roger’s own words, “The first track is a little more progressive, packed with riffs both dark and triumphant. The second track is all about build and groove. The third track is thrash, metal, and destructive. The final track is spacey with doom elements.”

Overall, it you are one of the many that wishes Mastodon had continued in the cosmic, crushing progressive manner of Crack The Skye and Blood Mountain, Howling Giant is your dream band!

Black Hole Space Wizard: Part 1 was produced by Howling Giant, mixed by Kim Auch plus mastered by Chris Fasco as the follow-up to their 2015 self-titled debut.

Tracklisting:

“Mothership”
“Exodus Earth”
“Dirtmouth”
“Clouds Of Smoke”

“Dirtmouth” video:

(Photo - Kim Auch)