Reviews: Giobia, Black & Damned, Decipher, Brown Acid (Reviews By Rich Piva & Matt Bladen)

Giobia - Acid Disorder (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]

Giobia is all about the psychedelic space rock and they have been for a bunch of years now, releasing multiple killer albums and EPs that bend your mind and take you on quite the trip. The latest album from the Milano, Italy space riders is Acid Disorder, a very fitting title for one of the trippiest albums I have heard this year. This is some excellent psych/space rock with keys, swirling and bending guitars, and other delightful sounds that bring you to the planet that they have been living on where they survive on mushrooms and the explicit knowledge that there is more to what we see with our normal human two eyes.

Queen Of Wands starts us off on this trip with those keys and those guitars and you can start to feel where this is going, and right off the bat you are all in. We have dueling male/female vocals on Acid Disorder, and on The Sweetest Nightmare we have Melissa providing the haunting vocals, with cool echo effects. This is as if Slowdive did nothing but LSD all day and recorded a new record. Amazing track. Hawkwind vibes hit you hard with Consciousness Equals Energy, which continues with Melissa on vocals and goes even further into the space rock side of things. Screaming Souls is pretty much a perfect space rock track that has everything that you would want in that type of track, trippy guitars, atmospheric soundscapes, and a sense of dark urgency. 

I really love when Giobia leads with the keys which is what you get right off the bat with Blood Is Gone, which while more of a slow burn, hits you right in the face with the wall of sound guitars and ventures into the pace rock/shoegaze crossover territory. More spacey goodness comes in the form of Circo Galatitco, which is a killer instrumental jam that is all about the synths. In Line sounds like it could be on the Twin Peaks soundtrack (a really good thing, you can hear this song being played at The Roadhouse). The title track closer is a mind bending, most psych leaning trip on Acid Disorder with dueling male/female vocals and that may be my favorite track on the album.

Sometimes space rock/psych records can get to be a bit much or overstay their welcome, but Acid Disorder is the perfect length and number of tracks, never meandering or wanking for no go reason, which makes this a refreshing and easier listen than some other bands playing this style. Giobia wants to take you on this space journey but not as a one-way trip.  The band wants you to come back to earth at some point and want more, which is exactly what you get from this album. Possibly the space rock record of the year so far. 9/10 

Black & Damned - Servants Of The Devil (ROAR! Rock Of Angels Records) [Matt Bladen]

Germans Black & Damned only released their debut Heavenly Creatures in 2021but in quick succession they release their follow up Servants Of The Devil. With a title that will see them banned from Stryper support slots, the Stuttgart five piece have embraced the darkness on this record, going down the heavier power metal route, with nods to bands such as Gamma Ray, Primal Fear and Rage, still unmistakably German (power metal fans know) but with meatier riffs from Michael Vetter and Aki Reissmann, that straddle thrash at times, the guest keys and orchestrations of Daniel Galmarini adding wider soundscape. 

Now other than the fact “Hyena” sounds like “Diana”, the first song does well to bring the Black & Damned sound back before the build of Rise To Rise and the chugging thick riffs come for the rest of the record, even Inside which is a huge ballad the engine room of Pappe Lee (bass) and Axel Winkler (drums) is big and boisterous before the speed comes back on the Black & Damned. While Kings And Allies has that Teutonic swagger, highlighting the snarl of Roland Seidel’s voice, who sings a bit like Andi Deris. So Black & Damned don’t shake anything up much from their last release, just more tough power metal for banging your head too. 8/10

Decipher - Arcane Paths To Resurrection (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Matt Bladen]

Greek black metal has a long and pointed history, it's in a genre all of its own from the beginnings of Varathron, Necromantia, Rotting Christ, it has stayed the course putting Greece as one of the countries best known for extreme metal.

Decipher hail from Greece and their debut full length is a credit to the Greek extreme metal scene, blasting you right in the face from the blistering Chants Of The Unholy, they have a mechanical, frostbitten style that break with atmospheric interludes such as Arcane Paths, before the relentless battery returns, tracks such as Enslaved To Be the ideal track to listen to if you want to hear what Decipher do well, all tremolo picking, pace shifts, chanting and squawked growls.

It's a testament to their songwriting that they manage to adapt the pace in many of their songs without losing any viciousness, the seven tracks not giving you much time to get comfortable before another starts beating your eardrums. Born from the Greek scene but with some Scandi steeliness, Arcane Paths To Resurrection is a savage but of black metal from Decipher. 7/10

Brown Acid - The Sixteenth Trip (RidingEasy Records) [Rich Piva]

I am going to start this review like I did the last two additions to this collection; I love the Brown Acid series that has been curated by the great RidingEasy Records. If you are not familiar with the set the basic concept is that Lance Barresi, owner of L.A.-based Permanent Records, searches the far corners of the US in dusty record store bins, garages, attics, and confirms musical urban myths to bring us lost and the most underground of underground songs from long forgotten bands that in some cases may have only release one song on a promo single. These songs come together to populate the now sixteen volumes of some of the best 60s and 70s proto metal and psych rock that you have never heard before. Never ever do these comps disappoint. This one is no different, with another nine lost treasures for your listening enjoyment, with a surprise tenth track not on the promo to build even more of the intrigue for this set.

Seeds from Los Angeles start us off with Shuckin’ And Jivin’ which has a great garage/proto sound and killer guitar work that leads right into the Blue Cheer meets Mountain sound you come to expect from several the bands on these comps. This track absolutely slays. Ohio’s Nothing brings the 70s funk groove with the track Young Generation, a song that someone should cover ASAP. Riffs are aplenty with Macbeth’s track Freight Train, which the album’s description mentions Grand Funk and I have nothing better to compare to than that. Canada is represented in Volume 16 by Sarawest, and their fuzzy garage romp Hot & Heavy that has some nifty guitar work. A southern rock feel is brought to the party with the track Feel The Heat by North Carolina’s Brotherhood Of Peace while also reminding me of very early Aerosmith. Dreams by Attack is a perfect description of what was considered heavy in 1969 and includes some serious Keith Moon style drumming that leads the way on this ripper. 

Inside Experience has the poppiest track on this volume with Marilyn, a catchy bopper that would have got the girls moving in 1976. The instrumental track Snake Dance by Headstone is my favorite track on here, mostly because of the killer organ work that the at the time GM workers unleashed on the small but very lucky fanbase that got to experience this in real time. Midnight In New York is a fun, straight ahead proto ripper that reminds me of early Kiss and is a great way to end this, as usual, killer comp.  Who knows what the surprise track has in store for us.

Another day, another amazing edition of the Brown Acid Series. The 16^th trip is no different in quality than the other fifteen. These sets will never get old and hope they go on forever. May the archives of RidingEasy be full and never-ending. Check all sixteen volumes out ASAP. 8/10