2017’s We’re All Alright was the Illinois outfit’s 18th album and it was bloody good too. I avoided Christmas Christmas like the plague, but now, four years later, the band are back with album number 20 and you know what, it’s as fresh as the eponymous debut way back in 1977. Having waited a year to release the album, another one held up by the pandemic, it’s pleasing to report that In Another World once again shines with the polished blend of pop and rock that Zander, Nielsen, Petersson and more recently Daxx Nielsen do so well. It’s effortless, classic, and stepped in the band’s own traditions and influences. Short, sharp, and instant earworms, there isn’t a band in the world who sound like Cheap Trick (apart from The Beatles obviously!). There’s a skill in their songwriting which is rare in rock music today.
Hooks, melody, and harmonies, it’s all here whilst Nielsen can let loose on occasions. Check out the stomp of Light Up The Fire, the pleasing joy of The Summer Looks Good On You or the smouldering burn of Passing Through. There’s the obligatory ballad on So It Goes, with Robin Zander on top form. There’s the anthemic Here’s Looking At You and hey, we even get the guest appearance of a certain Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) who adds guitar on the cover of John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth which closes the album.Nearly 50 years in the business, some bands can clearly still cut it. Cheap Trick are one of those bands and like AC/DC’s Power Up, there’s something clearly pumping through the veins of these elder statesmen. Long may their reign continue because this is another golden release. 9/10
Having experimented their entire career, beginning as a heavy grunge outfit and moved through jazz, psychedelia, and progressive rock, it’s probably not a surprise to find that Kingdom Of Oblivion contains some straightforward stoner tracks and some completely left field songs. Swathes of acoustic guitar, flutes and gentle percussion stand alongside more crashing tracks and buried in the middle of the album we find a hypnotic and bizarre version of Hawkwind’s The Watcher (featuring The Crimson Eye).
Today’s version of Motorpsycho retains the founding members Bent Sæther and Hans-Magnus Ryan alongside drummer Tomas Järmyr who joined in 2017 and so already has an armful of releases to his credit. Whilst some of the tracks do veer off on their own voyage, the best songs here are when the band let the riffs rain down, such as the opening track, The Warning Pt. 1 & 2 or the haze filled 11-minute penultimate track, The Transmutation Of Cosmoctopus-Lurker which is heavier than a lorry load of elephants carrying a bag of anvils each. In between, all kinds of weird and wonderful action takes place.
Kingdom Of Oblivion isn’t an album you can put on for a quick listen. It’s 70 minutes in length and tends to work best when the music flows from start to finish. Then you can immerse yourself into the soundscapes and aural abstract that this phenomenal band from Trondheim have crafted. Many will find the album dull. I found it quite spectacularly magical in places although overlong in parts. But they won’t give a single shit. It’s music to enjoy, relax or get uptight to. You choose. Just give it the space and time it deserves. If you don’t, there is only one loser. 7/10
Son Of Boar - Son Of Boar (Stoned Rocka Recordings) [Matt Bladen]
Kicking off with a sprawling 9 minute Stoned Wall the debut full length from Bradford bruisers Son Of Boar, is a record that has been on the horizon for a while now. With lots of stage time put in, they have channeled their sonic assault into this debut record as a statement of intent. They play a crunching stoner doom which has the psych/biker elements of Orange Goblin to it, the muscular vocals of Luke Oliver barking out the lyrics on the thundering All In Your Head Gaz Bates' bass and Luke Doran's drums powering locomotive riff of this song while also grinding away on the doomier Satanic Panic.
The Vintage Caravan - Monuments (Napalm Records) [Matt Bladen]
The Vintage Caravan practically embody the word 'retro', their prog/psychedelic rock and incendiary live show hark back to the multi-coloured world of the late-60's San Francisco when peace and love ruled to the strains of a Fender guitar abused through a Valve-Tubed Marshall Stack. Across their previous four albums they have maneuvered through a psychedelic journey of heavy riffs and cosmic influences. The Icelandic trio quickly rising through the ranks to become one of the band's premier rock proponents. They have toured with Opeth recently and have improved with every album and tour cycle, so there is a lot of expectation on this fifth album Monuments.
Any worry is dispelled by the trademark style of powerful drumming from Stefán Ari Stefánsson, locking in with Alexander Örn Númason's throbbing basslines like that ideal Mitchell/Redding pairing of Electric Ladyland. The rhythm section is what gives this record it's skeleton, a deft heaviness on which Óskar Logi Ágústsson can let loose his guitar histrionics as he rushes between his vocal lines and shooting out flashes of six string brilliance on chuggers such as Can't Get You Off My Mind. Monuments is The Vintage Caravan sound coming of age and maturing into a retro-influenced modern rock band. There's some jazzy breaks on Crystalized, Dark Times starts off with an acoustic intro before it becomes unleashed.
It's not all hard rocking bluster on the album though as This One's For You is a torchlight ballad placed in the middle in the album before Forgotten builds up again with a swirling heavy rock assault. Monuments has also taken a few hints from Swedes Ghost on the atmospheric Hell but it's on the final song Clarity that all these minor additions to The Vintage Caravan sound are fully formed on a 8 minute beauty, closing this 60 minutes of near perfect rock n roll. When gigs return The Vintage Caravan should be high on your 'go see' list. 9/10
Motorpsycho - Kingdom Of Oblivion (Stickman Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Having experimented their entire career, beginning as a heavy grunge outfit and moved through jazz, psychedelia, and progressive rock, it’s probably not a surprise to find that Kingdom Of Oblivion contains some straightforward stoner tracks and some completely left field songs. Swathes of acoustic guitar, flutes and gentle percussion stand alongside more crashing tracks and buried in the middle of the album we find a hypnotic and bizarre version of Hawkwind’s The Watcher (featuring The Crimson Eye).
Today’s version of Motorpsycho retains the founding members Bent Sæther and Hans-Magnus Ryan alongside drummer Tomas Järmyr who joined in 2017 and so already has an armful of releases to his credit. Whilst some of the tracks do veer off on their own voyage, the best songs here are when the band let the riffs rain down, such as the opening track, The Warning Pt. 1 & 2 or the haze filled 11-minute penultimate track, The Transmutation Of Cosmoctopus-Lurker which is heavier than a lorry load of elephants carrying a bag of anvils each. In between, all kinds of weird and wonderful action takes place.
Kingdom Of Oblivion isn’t an album you can put on for a quick listen. It’s 70 minutes in length and tends to work best when the music flows from start to finish. Then you can immerse yourself into the soundscapes and aural abstract that this phenomenal band from Trondheim have crafted. Many will find the album dull. I found it quite spectacularly magical in places although overlong in parts. But they won’t give a single shit. It’s music to enjoy, relax or get uptight to. You choose. Just give it the space and time it deserves. If you don’t, there is only one loser. 7/10
Son Of Boar - Son Of Boar (Stoned Rocka Recordings) [Matt Bladen]
Kicking off with a sprawling 9 minute Stoned Wall the debut full length from Bradford bruisers Son Of Boar, is a record that has been on the horizon for a while now. With lots of stage time put in, they have channeled their sonic assault into this debut record as a statement of intent. They play a crunching stoner doom which has the psych/biker elements of Orange Goblin to it, the muscular vocals of Luke Oliver barking out the lyrics on the thundering All In Your Head Gaz Bates' bass and Luke Doran's drums powering locomotive riff of this song while also grinding away on the doomier Satanic Panic.
Stoner/doom is nothing without riffs, so Adam Waddell and Lyndon Birchall have a lot riding on them so it's great that they get a chance to crank out something filthy frequently phasing between distortion and heady psych atmospheres, Snakes & Daggers having that bottom end slap of towering doom before louchly wandering into hallucinatory passages and coming back again. Signed to Stoned Rocka Recordings, Son Of Boar is a shot to the arm to the stoner doom genre, taking from the genre leaders but adding their own spin. 8/10
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