PROG-ROCK:
ELOY: Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes/Colours/Planets/Time To Turn/Metromania - Remasters+ Bonus Tracks Each CD
Eloy are a progressive rock band, OK!! The fact that they are also a space-rock band and a sci-fi rock band is merely a bonus. What is not in dispute is that these albums are surefire winners for each of these audiences, so, if you've never heard any Eloy before and are now intrigued, read on……
In chronological order, we actually go back to 1979 for 'Silent Cries' and it was at this point that the band effectively changed styles from a Nektar-styled space-rock to a more Pink Floyd styled hybrid of that and prog-rock, so that when you hear the sweeping synths and string synths allied to the soaring, fluid lead guitars and strident rhythm section, you just know that this band has found a direction that fits it like a glove. The lyrics continue to reside in the science fiction sector of things, suitably timeless and superbly written, while, musically, we're clearly seventies bound but with a distinctly sci-fi rock slant to what is genuinely quite superb prog music. Across a sea of excellent tracks there's plenty of room for the synths/organ/electric guitar soloing and duelling, and anyone into the likes of 'Wish You Were Here' or 'Animals' will have absolutely no problems getting off on this remarkable album, with tracks from three to nearly fifteen minutes long, now sounding so crisp and mighty, and with the addition of two previously unavailable bonus tracks.
A year later came 'Colours' and right from the start, the band have made that giant leap from "this sounds like……" to a wholly original brand of music that's so evident right from the opening three minutes of 'Horizons' that's really just the synths and rhythm section under a gloriously soaring heavenly female vocal, before the intro to the six minute 'Illuminations' begins with jangling guitar chords, soaring lead synth as the rhythm section thunders in, Bornemann's trademark vocal begins and suddenly we're flying, as this awesome slice of high-flying prog -space music hybrid just takes you along in its wake - hooked like a maggot on a rod. From there on, the album just goes from dizzy height to dizzy height as the songs unfold, nothing longer than eight minutes but sheer class and quality written all over them, with appropriate instrumental passages to provide the vast expanses that a great prog album should have. The bonus track here is the rare single 'Wings Of Visions' and an edit of a song from the album.
Forward to 1981 and 'Planets' where the Eloy brew of prog, with a flavour of space-rock, was now firmly in a field of its own, the mix of science fiction and prog, lyrically and instrumentally, evoking the greats of the seventies without actually sounding like them, although it's fair to say that anyone into the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes, Nektar and similar, who'd not heard this band or this album before, would be kicking themselves once they find what they've been missing - although now these remasters are fresh out, with their incredible sound quality, maybe not, just as long as they get into them now. Here the bonus track is a four minute live performance of one of the album tracks.
To 1982 and the final "magnum opus" in the form of 'Time To Turn', possibly THE album that really sealed their standing as one of the giants of their musical territory, with some awesome playing and singing throughout a superbly written, arranged and produced slice of outstanding prog-rock heaven, all infused with their flowing brand of scince-fiction and space-rock turning out a sound that, in the end, can only be one band.
In 1983, 'Performance' came upon us, and you could be forgiven for thinking the worst by the rather bouncy, even though powerful, rhythm that heralds the opening track, but then you suddenly realise that the band have returned to their space-rock roots and the whole thing begins to make sense, as the sea of synths and guitars rises up and the four minute track just soars to a stunning conclusion. On 'Shadow And Light', they produce a sense of power that we'd not witnessed even on the previous albums, the band and Bornemann really going for it and delivering the gods with a passion and an intensity that, even in the light of what came before, has you jaw-dropped at the results, this time the mix of space-rock and prog-rock in equal doses as one stunning pasage follows another, the duelling and soloing from the guitars and synths sounding positively explosive, above a dramatic and powerful rhythm section, easily the best track on the album, now sounding red hot on this amazing remaster. From here on in, the prog element starts to take more of a dominant role as the compositions become more dynamic - no less powerful - but not always as intense. The bonus tracks consist of over fifteen minutes and three of the best tracks from the album, recorded live in 1983 and sounding just superb.
By the time of 1984's 'Metromania' as well as the band's mix of prog and space-rock, other elements were being injected so that you hear heavenly choirs, occasional funkier bass work, more electronic drums, vocoded vocal, all mere icing on the traditional rock solid cake, but showing the band maturing and now willing to experiment a little with the seasoned sound that had become their trademark, the result being……….well, mixed I guess - for me, now newly remastered, the whole thing sounds a lot more vibrant and makes a whole lot more musical sense than the original, and it's now one of those albums that, the more you listen to it, the more you realise that it is indeed classic Eloy - just from a different standpoint - if you like, their most varied yet still totally cohesive and conistent, album so far, although when you hear the newly remastered magnificence of the full nine and a half minutes of 'Follow The Light', you wouldn't really care what the rest of the album was like as long as you had this track. Luckily the rest of the album is excellent, maybe not as instant as before, but ultimately, one of their finest.
SHAWN GUERIN: Archives CD
These days, all a lot of people want out of a new act or band, is something that, if they're going to spend the money on it, is a sure-fire thing that they're going to enjoy it from start to finish, that it's new yet somehow absolutely familiar, that it sounds great, that it's played and sung to perfection and that it's going to occupy a place by the CD player for a long time to come. Sounds too good to be true? Not any more!!
Welcome to the third album - this time round a collection of covers and originals, where the originals sound every bit as good and familiar as the covers, and, most importantly, where the spirit of classic seventies sounding prog is alive and well and rarely sounded so good.
The album opens with a rendition of Genesis' 'Back In New York City' that is just spot on - no need to say anymore - it's absolutely the business, the sound of Genesis alive and well. The first original song, 'If This Is A Dream', continues the flavour, and it's a testament to the guy's writing and arranging and playing that this song actually sounds a BETTER composition that what you've just heard - and the guy's vocal is so close to a stronger Phil Collins, it's untrue, so much so that when you get to the song 'She Doesn't Care' and the cover of Pink Floyd's 'In The Flesh' you have to pinch yourself you're not listening to some 'Wind And Wuthering' outtakes. Before that a neat keys/synths-dominated instrumental provides a strong thematic flow between the two original songs. Onto track seven and an eight minute excerpt from Clearlight's 'Infinite Symphony' instrumental, on the surface a strange choice, but the bit they've taken is every bit in keeping with the feel and taste of the album to date, but here sounding more like something you'd have found on an old seventies prog album, with stirring use of keys and synths plus stinging lead electric guitar over a vast-sounding symphonic backdrop, the rhythm section keeping it all moving. Then it's back to songs with the gorgeously tender 'Without You', a six minute original that conjures up the more balladic moments of '76/'77-era Genesis and just superbly done. The instrumental 'Big Lizard' comes as a bit of a wake-up call, as the sound of driving drums and what sounds like organs fed through a fuzz unit, and indeed what sounds like a lead electric guitar but isn't credited as such, come hammering out of the speakers in fine proggy fashion, sounding for all the world like some lost outtake from an early ELP album, the significance of that being even more appropriate when you come out of this smoking instrumental and into an actual Emerson, Lake & Palmer song, in this case a thirteen minute cover of 'Karn Evil #9' , and it sounds just incredible - following the original closely with a vocal that fits like a glove, organ work that takes you right back, the rhythm section just the business and a track that positively sizzles. The album continues with three more wondrous original, Genesis-flavoured songs, and one steaming cover of Genesis' 'Colony Of Slippermen' with Guerin's finest Peter Gabriel sounding vocal shining through. The album ends with two short instrumentals, one a fiery three minute prog blast, the other ending things with just under two minutes of atmospheric synths and electronic rumblings. All in all, it's a stunning album - not a wasted second on the entire thing - and you can't argue with that.
JOHN HACKETT: Checking Out Of London CD
Announcing the John Hackett album for those that never thought much of him before…and even those that did!!
Well, it's about time!!! About time that John took a leaf out of brother Steve Hackett's way of doing things - in fact Steve Hackett, alongside cohort Nick Magnus is part of the quartet on this album - and produced a rock solid prog album that is more in the territories of later period Steve Hackett, late seventies Camel, hints of seventies Pink Floyd, to mention but three of the main influences that struck me. John Hackett takes the reign on lead and harmony vocals and he has one of those haunting but solid voices so reminiscent of people like Chris Rainbow, Andy Latimer and the like, with a low-pitched but soft vocal style, but one capable of delivering the goods on the album's more driving passages, although a track such as 'Dreamtown' actually features vocals from Regenesis' Tony Patterson and the track could almost be modern era Peter Gabriel balladry in both the structure of the song and the sound, hard to believe that it's not actually Gabriel on vocals, and just one absolute standout on a truly solid and consistent album. It's a pity that they didn't give Patterson more lead vocals although he does take the lead on a further two songs, with backing vocals on all but one, to provide an even greater vocal tour-de-force running throughout the album. The songs average four or five minutes, and the amazing thing is that, like a lot of the late seventies Camel/Hackett albums, they not only shine and are superbly arranged and constructed, but they have that special nature that transcends mere prog writing and turn into something that is deceptively complex yet so easily digestible, songs that you'll want to hear time and time again.
KINO: Picture LTD 2CD
The new prog supergroup to come out of the ranks of other bands, issue a hotly tipped debut album that covers a lot of really powerful and dynamic prog-rock bases. It's really quite unique as it's the first real example of "symphonic neo prog" that I've come across. It's got that really forceful expansive sound that fills up the airwaves but, in addition, there are also many changes of pace, dynamics and intensity in there too. This is a rare album - one that I simply couldn't review in one hearing you really need two listens to this album to begin to appreciate its worth. Comparisons? Well, old Spocks Beard, Arena, John Wetton,
Porcupine Tree (from couple of years back) are just a few names that come to mind. The album decidedly revolves around its songs and the voice of, I presume, John Young, can at times be a bit of a "dry" voice, certainly more at home in a "neo-prog" territory than any "traditional" style, but if that's something you really like, then, in the context of such a huge production, it will work just fine. At times there's what feels like an arsenal of keys, synths and guitars on here, not to mention a rhythm section that really lets go. Most of the time you don't get so much solos, as passages where certain instruments rise to the surface more than others that are in the whirlpool of the mix, at the same time. A song such as the five minute "Swimming In Women" tells the whole tale in it, relatively, short running time, with dynamics ranging from the massive blast of the band as it takes off in full flight, to the more delicate passages where the piano takes the limelight. Most of the tracks on this CD are positively anthemic, while the vocal on 'People' takes on a distinctly Peter Gabriel slant, as the huge sea of orchestral sounding synths and guitars rises up to astounding effect, a synth lead eventually sailing away on top as the guitars chime and roar underneath, then organ appears, the rhythm section thunders and this searing lead guitar erupts on top - in many ways, classic Morse-era Spocks Beard, and it is with that band, which most of this album shares most of its common ground. The more you listen to this album, the better it becomes, and, to me, that is the mark of a seriously strong album, one that, on the surface, is not the mighty work you'd hoped, but then one that becomes a work of deceptive strength and grace, one that takes you on a journey and one that you slowly begin to treasure. Stick with it, and you'll see what I mean.
SATELLITE: A Street Between Sunrise And Sunset CD
With tracks ranging from four to fourteen minutes, a total of seventy-two minutes running time and a pedigree that comes from being ex-members of Collage, you won't be surprised to learn that this is a quality item. A brand new studio album that oozes class from start to finish with a huge, expansive sound the lead work coming from the keyboards and synths/guitars ensemble, with plenty of both to keep the listener satisfied. Vocally, it's excellent, with a mid-register delivery very much in the Morse traditions. The compositions are busy and multi-layered with loads going on and superb meeting of production and arrangement. As serious listening compositions, and album as a whole, it's the sort of class item that you will want to play again and again - not one that you hear about, buy, play once and that's the end of it. Prog fans who like to hear lots of synths and keys work in their music, will have a field day with this and it's a remarkably strong debut, but when the guitars do fire up, the effect is spellbinding. However, the band know their dynamics and the passages where it simmers down to heavenly choir, keyboards, soaring lead guitar and tight rhythm section, with spiralling moog solos overhead, are every bit as special.
SATELLITE: Evening Games CD
When an album by an unknown band is as seriously red hot as this, the question is always "how do you get the audience out there to believe you?"
Well, you could always use the "comparison" bit and evoke the recent faultless albums by the likes of Spocks Beard & RPWL, to name but two, to illustrate that, in this album, you have something so amazingly good that it transcends the tag of mere "prog-rock".
Then you could use the "Trust me, I'm Andy G" approach - many of you know that when I tell you something is really incredible, you just know I'm being genuine - I mean to say - look around you at any of the albums you've bought by bands whose reviews you've seen from me first - doesn't matter from where, but just think about it!!
Alternatively there's always the "track by track" dissection approach - guaranteed to leave you knowing exactly what you're getting - but in the case of an album like this where there is not a less than riveting second on the entire thing - also guaranteed to be a total cure for insomnia when you get to the third page and we're still only halfway through the review.
Surefire winner is relate to the past greats of the seventies such as Genesis and Floyd which is where a lot of influences reside on an album such as this, but the problem here is that it can be construed that the resultant album sounds like those seventies bands, all well and good you might think, but sometimes a band can mould these influences into something that is so contemporary yet still so soundly prog-rock, you simply marvel at how they do it.
As you might have gathered, the above is my slightly tongue-in-cheek way of telling you, in terms that make for something different when reading my reviews, that this is one fantastic album. Seventy five minutes, ten tracks and doesn't put a foot wrong - it really is sheer class every way you look at it - composition, playing, production, dynamics, vocalising, the works - and so darned good that there are only a few passages where you find yourself thinking that a bit here or a bit there might sound like something that came of an album such as 'Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' while most of it has a flow to it that just carries you along in its wake as you hear some sizzling playing, classic arranging and some seriously jaw-dropping song-writing and singing.
You simply can't fault an album as good as this - you really can't. For all open-minded, and even the closed-minded, prog-fans everywhere.
V/A: Subdivisions - A Tribute To Rush CD
Genius - just genius!! Welcome to the Geddy Lee impersonation society - all comers welcome. Far from being a case of "it's so bad it's good", this is actually a case of "so good, it's uncanny" as the four main vocalists actually get to the heart, and even in a couple of remarkable cases the sound, of what makes the Lee such a unique part of this band - keeping faithfully to the structure of the tracks, the chosen selection is as magical a representation of the spirit and sound of the band as you'll ever hear outside of the real thing. Now, with projects such as this, you are either so closed-minded that you can't see what the heck's going on here, or open-minded enough to appreciate that the core line-up has taken some classic songs and treated them not only with respect, but also with affection, but not so much that thye don't think they can improve on the originals, and, to my mind, improve on them, they have done, in nearly all cases. For here you will witness the sound of classic Rush getting a prog-metal makeover - and the effect is earth shattering. It illustrates what a classic set of songs the band have written and, in the hands of musicians who understand the very heart of the beast, songs that stand as equal classics in this form. Huge sounding, epic produced arrangements with masses of synths, guitars, electric basses and drums just explode out of the speakers filed with power and passion, and not one of the vocal perfprmances sounds less than magical, never once making you pine for the originals, even though you hold the originals with reverence - for this is outside of that universe to such a degree that it's almost like discovering a whole new universe inhabited by your favourite band's works. I LOVED it - and I'm a big Rush fan - but there will be those who think its sacrilege, and those I have to respect, albeit vehemently disagree. For me, one that will be played long, loud and often - genius!!!
PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE-ROCK/STONER:
ANUBIAN LIGHTS: Phantascape CD
The new-look Anubian Lights with stalwarts Len Del Rio & Tommy Grenas on most keys, synths and guitars and programming, while the lion's share of the vocals is from female singer Adele Bertei. Musically, we're largely in a tempo and territory that, to a degree, immediately reminds me of something like Byrne/Eno's 'My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, although the track 'Bhajan', with Grenas' vocal, could actually be something off 'Babbaluma'-era Can, it's THAT close. Elsewhere, it's a case of post new-wave American electro-psychedelia, albeit with twists and turns along the way, as driving songs that mix eighties USA post-punk indie with modern era no-wave electronic cruise into view with power, purpose and determination, all founded on a foot-stomping sea of rhythmic strength that virtually defies you not to move to the beat. Instrumentally, it's wonderful, while the production and construction are superb, yet it's Bertei who steals the limelight with a vocal delivery that has strength, range, power and fragility, with a certain haunting content in there too, in many ways a modern Annette Peacock, only unafraid to let go when the song dictates. It's not the Anubian Lights you know from before, but if you have half an inkling for amazingly delivered electro-indie rock-punk with female vocals, then this one's for you, for sure.
DEAD MEADOW: Feathers CD
4th album and it's a mass of swirling, stoned, huge-sounding, expansive electric psychedelia that is just out of this world. It's like a mighty exercise in powerful shoegazing mode as layers upon layers of guitars provide this sort of atmospheric, smoking, slow-burning mass of sonic stoner heaven without conforming to any of the clichés that make many wince when the word "stoner" comes up these days. Below all this is the most phenomenal river of electric bass and drums, always there and veering between driving, surging rhythms and more cohesive, addictive patterns that follow the sea of guitars, as some wondrously booming bass bellows forth, albeit slowly climbing to greaterheights as the sheer emotion of the songs, filled with angst and yearning, vocals almost submerged in the mix, rings out to startlingly great effect. It's the sort of thing where you listen to the whole band in action, the whole sound as one organic unit, the compositions simply soaring out of the universe taking your head with it, but all done in an almost heady early seventies mode, evoking images of early Pink Floyd mixed with a more drugged-up Stone Roses, the result being an album that transfixes you from start to finish, immense in every way, yet truly addictive, powerful by virtue of its density than its attack, intense and yet beautiful, muscular and magnificent, yet mid-paced and massive. A pearl of great price, this is simply one awesome album that I can recommend most highly.
HIDRIA SPACEFOLK: Symbiosis CD
The second album from 2002 and the first giant leap into the light for this amazing instrumental psych band from Finland, and the first couple of minutes initially sound like a laid-back early Porcupine Tree, but then the whole thing just erupts and you're headlong into a mix of early Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles & Mr Quimbys Beard, with a raging ocean of electric guitars & flutes, soaring synths and a rhythm section that just surge ahead in magnificent fashion, the sound of instrumental psych-rock at its heady finest, the production and arranging, playing and composing, just out of this world, as the seven minute 'Terra Hidria' states its case in no uncertain terms and rises higher and higher and higher. After a more atmospheric one minute second track, the five minute 'Kaneh Bosm' begins and this time it's a bit Eat Static, a bit Gong and a lot Ozrics, with a vibrant production and incredibly surging sound that threatens to explode inside your head if turned up way loud. It's like Ed Wynne and friends in a parallel universe, and it sounds just amazing. The six minute 'Kaikados' turns up the heat even more and if, as a fan of rock solid instrumental Ozrics-influenced psych at its finest, this doesn't send you into raptures as you do the dervish dance round the room, then you're more than likely in need of resuscitation, electric guitars, synths, bass, drums and more guitars powering a trail that lights up the night sky, full of passion, power, dynamics, feel and sheer overwhelming enjoyment, from the band and for the listener. The five minute Nasha Universo' cuts back the intensity without sacrificing the power and this massive, clear sounding tower of psych-rock heaven roars along leaving you wide-eyed and amazed at the results. From there on in, it's a, sometimes even Hillage-Blake influenced, ride to the end of the CD, as spectacular an album of instrumental acid-rock as you'll find anywhere, and not a less than riveting second on the entire album.
HIDRIA SPACEFOLK: Balansia CD
Third album from the Finnish synths+keys/dual lead guitarists/bass/drums quintet and it's an instrumental offering that mixes pure seventies sounding Krautrock jamming with eighties Ozrics but provides their own originality to the result that puts them on a level that is both new and familiar. In many ways, the Ozrics at their least self-indulgent early years best, is the style that typifies this album, and it's one where the band as a whole really gel, the guitar work, however, being particularly outstanding. The mix of melodies and chunky rhythms, spirally space synths and resonant bottom-end electric bass, is topped off with lead guitars that can chime eloquently one minute and be a roaring furnace, the next. But the way the compositions are structured, arranged and produced is what makes the music come alive, with dynamics a crucial element. The sound is rather more "rounded" than some of the oblique angles off into which the Ozrics would fly, with some of the lead work on the synths smoother but all this changes when the guitars go supernova (most of the album) while the sequencers and space synths, rhythm section and band-fired excursions, just shine throughout every second of the 6 tracks and fifty minutes of music that is here. If you're into this kind of instrumental psych, then this is a "new kid on the block" who can really deliver the goods.
NIFTY EAGU & THE GLO-PILOTS: Last/First CD
I have played this CD about four or five times now in the short space that I've had it, and it's already going to be one of my most played CD's of the moment - yet it's hard to describe. In essence it's a psychedelic album dominated by some blistering guitar work, but more in the context of classic jamming bands such as Pink Fairies, Djam Karet, Man, etc - you know the sort of thing. With tracks ranging from four to nearly eighteen minutes in length, this is an album with a four and a seventeen minute instrumentals, while the four original songs still leave a lot of room for the guitars to shine, and the album closes with a near ten minute cover of Pink Floyd's 'Astronomy Domine'. But don't get me wrong - this isn't just a vehicle for the guitars -those four original songs are just FANTASTIC. The album opens with the first version of 'Walking Down The Road', a crunchy little track with a steaming lead vocal and some seriously solid work from the rhythm section, almost Krautrock in its flavour, while over the top the lead guitar just soars and dives and shines - melodic, powerful and red hot. Two tracks later, it reappears in a completely different disguise, this time nearly all instrumental and with the lead electric guitar set on kill as the thing solos over the undulating, crisp and cohesive rhythm section, practically taking the roof of your head off with its fiery intensity, just becoming more and more powerful as the track wears on, and an absolutely awesome example of classic jamming-style psychedelic, electric guitar-led nirvana, while the bass and drums really deliver amid a raging torrent of fuzz guitar and rhythm guitars inferno and some fantastic sampled female voice that is almost buried in the mix - simply stunning. Between these, a four minute instrumental and a six minute song, the latter with a female vocalist who's just perfect in the context of the indie/Kraut/psych elements of the song, 'Moonshot', both reveal a band blowing on all cylinders and some more searing guitar work along the way, the mid-section of the latter with its synth backdrop and scorching guitar work, making the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The four minute 'Web Of Days' is a jaunty number that still manages to feature a more restrained guitar rage out the back of the mix, this time focusing more on the song. Then the near eighteen minute instrumental 'There's A Mosquito In My Guitar Part 2' which starts slow, as the best ones always do, then proceeds to build and layer, build and climb as the rhythm section moves it all along with some outstanding bass work, while, this time, two lead guitarists, gradually become more and more intense, losing none of the dynamics of the structure and purpose of the track, as the epic moves ever onwards and upwards, ending as a sizzling sea of high-flying melodic guitars-dominated jamming-style glory. Finally there's a nine minute 'Astronomy Domine' where the lead vocal is deliberately played down, while the mid-section is a cauldron of heady delights, starting with flute and rhythm section as the guitar suddenly erupts and launches the track into an altogether higher dimension in an extended sea of soloing above the rhythm muscle before, with all guns blazing, it's a return to the song and the raw indie feel that ends the performance with your nerves on fire. Overall, a stunning album - why I love it so much, I'm not sure - but that's often why the best albums are exactly that - highly recommended.
PARTICLE: Launchpad CD
Instrumental, ambient, downtempo, psychedelic and….well………funky or at least it swings. In many ways it's like a cross between Return To Forever & Ozric Tentacles - a kind of psychedelic fusion where melodies and tunes reign supreme, the rhythms drive forward and the synths and guitars move from dual leads to soaring solos, all wrapped up in a coat of many space-rock colours, so that while it doesn't have the all-out attack of the Ozrics, it makes up for it in the melodic fusion approach of RTF. It's one of those albums that gets better and better the more you get into it, so that once you've got over the fact that this is smooth rather than raw, you can sink your teeth into some technically superb playing.
PSYTRAX ISSUE 1 CDR
Welcome to the first issue of the quarterly guide to what's new and exciting in the worlds of space-rock, stoner-rock and psychedelic music.
Psytrax is the project of space-rock supreme Andy G, and is designed, in the capable hands of Kath G and Suzie, to be your guide to the best in new music. Based around the concept of the sister electronic music CD "Inkeys", the idea behind Psytrax is that the featured tracks are representative of the albums from which they are taken, so that if you hear a piece of music on Psytrax, then you can buy the album with confidence. It's all about helping the musicians to sell more albums as well as being a repeat-playable CD in its own right. It's also a non-profit making venture on behalf of the people who put it together. It's an ultra-low priced way of getting into some seriously excellent music. But not only that, Psytrax will be a quarterly release and contain interviews as well as tracks exclusive to the issue concerned. This time around, we've been lucky enough to have Jerry Richards provide an exclusive new seven minute track called "Separation By Skin" that is simply breathtaking and ends the CD. Before that you will hear a selection of fantastic tracks from
Litmus, Space Mirrors, Jet Jaguar, Wall Of Sleep, Voodoo Shock, Alien Dream, Melodic Energy Commission, Architectural Metaphor, Dr Has been, Spaceseed, Quarkspace, Spacehead, Helios Creed, ST 37 and Jerry Richards.
At this price and for 77 minutes of quality music, not to mention an exclusive, you simply can't go wrong buying Psytrax!!
SONS OF OTIS: X CD
Brand new studio album that features 55 minutes of slow, crushing, stoner doom, exemplified in the album's opener, 'Way I Feel', where almost slow-motion intensity comes into life, as huge sounding electric bass, deep, thick oil slicks of electric guitar riffs and crunching, deliberate drums provide the relentless, intense almost morbid sea of sound, while growled, distant and heavily echoed vocal appears way down in the mix, simply adding to the sonic auditory effect of it all, and seven minutes of spirit-crushing yet hypnotic psychedelic doom. The second track, 'Relapse', is a similar tale only here the drums are more varied and there are actual lead guitar breaks above the slowly and solid pounding electric bass, again, around seven minutes of slow-motion thunder. After this it's a similar tale throughout as this huge sounding wall of stoner doom rumbles and crushes to wicked effect.
