“We don’t like to force things to go in a certain direction: we like our stuff to happen organically and naturally.” After new record ‘Buried Under The Weight Of Reason’ destroyed our eardrums, we had the chance to sit down with Elliot Cole to find out how the drummer manages to make his music so crushingly heavy.

Desert Storm’s seventh record is out now, and it’s a monstrous effort from the band: from the sounds of things, the work is paying off. “[The response] seems to be pretty positive, from what we’ve seen. It’s always nerve-wracking when you put out a new album because you spend so long writing the music, and all this time and energy creating it: it’s quite important to us all. So you’re always a little bit nervous to see what the response is gonna be like, because it’s our work— it shows that you care.” The sheer heft of the album’s music is reflected in its ominous title, and Cole confirmed that to be no accident. “We didn’t have [a title] for ages, and then Matt Ryan had loads of song title ideas that he had written down from years ago which never really got used: he was reading off this list and that was the one that stood out. Originally it was actually ‘Burdened And Buried Under The Weight Of Reason,’ but we shortened it because we thought that would be a bit too much. It just sounded quite heavy: it suits the music.”

With the group’s newest outing sounding so ferocious, we had to know if Cole had any tips on dialling in that signature Desert Storm sound— if you think ‘Buried Under The Weight Of Reason’ is even more earth-shaking than 2023’s ‘Death Rattle,’ we now know how the band pulled it off. “It’s down to the tunings: we play quite low, which gives it a heavier sound. And we haven’t used much distorted bass in the past— usually we have a cleaner tone— but our new bassist on this album [Andrew Keyzor] likes to play with a lot more overdrive, and I think it really suits the sound.” Cole was also able to share the secret ingredient that gives ‘Dripback’ its intensity, explaining that “it’s actually got dual vocals! There’s a guest vocalist: Ben Perrier from Winnebago Deal. He’s more of a punk rock vocalist— he’s got those screechier vocals— but it worked quite well for that song.” Listening to an album as crushing as this, it was no surprise to hear that for Desert Storm, the riffs come first. “Usually, our songs will be based around a riff: sometimes it’ll be just one riff and then we’ll bring it to the rehearsal room and jam on it from there. Our singer will sit down with a notepad and brainstorm random words which come to his head, and then whichever direction he likes, we go with.”

After hearing a new side to the band on lead single ‘Shamanic Echoes,’ we were also keen to find out how Desert Storm approached their most diverse and progressive record to date. “I think the two albums that we did before this one were getting a little bit more progressive, and I think it was a natural progression that some of that sound was going to come onto this new album.” One of the most interesting cuts the band have come out with is ‘Woodsman,’ which couples the band’s usual sludge metal with more tender folk influences. Talking on the song’s creation, Cole shared that “my brother [Ryan Cole] was just messing about with the guitar, and then we said ‘that would work quite well as an intro.’ It made the heavy moments of that song even more heavy sounding because of the juxtaposed thing going on.” As for another of the record’s softest moments, we almost didn’t get to hear it at all! “‘Carry The Weight’ was just something we wrote in the studio: originally, it wasn’t going to be on the album, but then we thought it breaks it up nicely. And with the faster song ‘Dripback,’ finding a place on the album for that to fit was quite difficult, but it seemed to work better following the quiet sound of ‘Carry The Weight:’ I think that was the best place for it.”

Desert Storm will be heading out on a new European tour in support of the album very soon: from the sounds of things, fans can expect some exciting setlist choices from the band. “The last gig we did, we basically played all of [the new album] and that was just before it’d come out: we did it as a test to see which ones went down well. ‘Newfound Respect’ has been going down pretty well, actually— that was one that we did at Desertfest Antwerp at the end of last year and it seemed to go down well.” Cole chose ‘Newfound Respect’ and ‘Shamanic Echoes’ as his favourites from the record, citing the former as the project’s “most riff-y” song. “And for ‘Shamanic Echoes,’ I really like how it starts off a little bit atmospheric and then it goes pretty droney and then goes a bit psychedelic and jazzy in the middle: it’s quite progressive.”

While we had his ear, we were keen to ask Cole about his side-project Wall, which will be going on tour with Belgian stoner rock trio Gnome very soon— listening to the grizzled riffs that make up 2024’s ‘Brick by Brick,’ it’s hilarious to think that the Covid-born act started life “at home, with an acoustic guitar where we wrote the songs: I was tapping the drums on my lap!” Now that we’re a few years removed from the pandemic, Cole shed some light on how the two bands fit together for him. “We’ve obviously just written and recorded a new Desert Storm album, so in our minds we’re thinking that if my brother thinks of any cool riff ideas, we’ll use that as new Wall stuff: when one band is not doing something, the other one is. It’s got that similar sort of guitar style— my brother’s riffs— but with Desert Storm, we have everyone’s input rather than just the two of us.” Cole teased that Wall will be debuting a new song on their upcoming tour, though it’s no news on a studio release at the minute.

To rounds things about, Cole shared his #1 album with us: his pick came quite easily to him, and it’s not a choice we’re in a hurry to disagree with. “Black Sabbath: ‘Paranoid.’ It was pretty much the first album I got when I was eight years old, and I still to this day have not heard anything better.”

Desert Storm’s ‘Buried Under The Weight Of Reason’ is out now via Heavy Psych Sounds. Their upcoming European tour begins at Buried In Smoke Festival in Oxford on March 28th. Wall’s suite of shows supporting Gnome begins on March 29th.