Psychlona has to be the most consistently awesome band of the 2020s and maybe my favourite, considering their second album, Venus Skytrip, was my number one album of 2020 and their third, Palo Verde, was my number two for the year 2022. So, if we keep up with this pattern, the latest Psychlona masterpiece should be dropping right about now and should be somewhere in my top 3 for 2024, right? Right, because Warped Vision rules and continues to show why Psychlona is the premiere stoner/heavy psych band of this decade.
Why is Psychlona and therefore Warped Vision, so great? The band’s sound is unique to them as you can always tell when it is a Psychlona song blasting. Yeah, they have the influences you would expect and you hear on the eight tracks making up Warped Vision, but their tone and sound are so specific to them. Be it the vocals, how the songs are produced, or their attention to melody that allows them to create the most earworm-y stoner psych songs compared to just about any band, like ever, in the genre. These dudes can play too. Just listen to the solo on the heavy and trippy Kaleidoscope. The band always kicks off records strong, and I knew from the second the opener, Jasmine, started we had another AOTY candidate on our hands.
The riffs and the Psychlona sound are all there, and I love the guitar work on this one. Psychlona, whether the try to or not, create stoner psych anthems on their records, and Let’s Go is Warped Vision’s example. The build up opening to the killer riff, combine that with the catchiness and you could play this during a kick off at a football game or whatever your sport of choice is. Oh, and cowbell. I also love when Psychlona gets all chill on us, like on the slow burn psych drenched Smoke, but the chunky riffs still show up to the party when the pace picks up towards the end and the band starts ripping it up, in maybe the most amazing way on the whole record. The call and response on the killer Cut Loose rules, and so does that guitar work.
A ten record can have no filler, and Warped Vision has zero, with songs like the slower but heavy as hell Topanga (love when the pace slows even more towards the end) and Split, which just shows even more that Psychlona are masters of the loud soft fast slow dynamic. I love the closer, Magic Carpet, too, as this is the most drop out track Psychlona may have in all of their discography and I could not be more here for it, but they would never close a record without rocking the f out, which is exactly what they do on the second half of the song.
This is another perfect record from the best stoner psych band of the 2020s. If they keep giving us amazing records every other year Psychlona will go down as one of the all-time greats. I do not think I am overstating this because everyone I know who listens to this band thinks something similar. Warped Vision is a top 5 or higher on my year end list in an extremely top-heavy year. Psychlona rules and if you don’t know this find out. 10/10
Marche Funèbre - After The Storm (Ardua Music) [Mark Young]
Now a touch of doom, courtesy of Belgium’s Marche Funèbre and their 5th full length album After The Storm. Formed in 2008, they have been a constant presence since their debut release Norizon in 2009. A first for me, and again it is always good to be exposed to new bands, no matter what their genre is. Now this is 6 songs in 44 minutes so that gives you an idea of track length (all 7 minutes or above) so it’s either going to be songs that fly or ones that drag.
In A Haze, well it’s a melodic start, with plenty of grit too. The death vocals are deep, without losing clarity in delivery and are delivered by Arne Vandenhoeck like a hammer hitting a wall. In A Haze is all about mighty riffs, and a surprisingly effective clean vocal by Kurt Blommé which when it comes in fits the overall tone well. The good thing here is that they are pushing forward and avoiding any drop in energy, even with the pre lead ‘quiet’ moment that is used to then give the closing section as much of an impact as it can get.
You can’t dismiss it that once they have zeroed on a decent riff build, they stay with it. Its pretty solid and is a good start. Palace Of Broken Dreams offers a more mournful track, the clean vocals and arrangement flows along, and you know that the heavy will come in to give it the required kick and when it does, they do it well. The heavier sections still provide that mournful touch, and its apparent that they know how to get as much as possible out of a minimal set of ideas, maxing out what they can do with it. It gives the song that organic flow so that when it grows it is staying true to what has gone before.
The way they use the cleans is done very well. There is no sense of them being shoehorned in, and they are used to suit the song rather than trying to be something they are not. Also, don’t forget that their riff choices are spot on and just from these two songs you can see why they are held in high regard. Do I detect a nod to Iron Maiden? Well, that might be a stretch but Devoid Of Empathy’s opening sequence has a cheeky little run that sounds like something Maiden might do. It is another strong song, with a melody set that would be fun to play.
It is interesting and engaging, giving the listener something to hang on to as opposed to it being just a bunch hammered out power chords. The subtle shift in pace towards the end of the song is fantastic. Its not that they achieve high speed, its just a little touch that gives the song a lift. When you have this kind of music the run time fades because it engages so well and suddenly you are half-way through!
Enter Emptiness goes for the melancholic with a restrained opening passage and as it stands this feels more in tune with atmospheric doom – the rising chords and subtle lead break. Ponderous and measured in application, it is no less engaging as it breaks free, and they pick that pace up once more dropping in the double bass as those crystal clean vocals come in. Watch for those subtle changes in attack near the end, just like they did with Devoid, it gives the song the necessary twist before they loop back to the main arrangement.
The opening to Stranded is almost happy. Not too happy, but it shows them changing their attack once again. Riffs are moving freely, with some solid lead playing and it has the air of a song that wants you to move. What you find is that as we head for the end, they have dropped 5 songs that weave in and around the death/doom genre without being anchored to one particular sound.
After The Storm is the final piece, the dessert after what has been a rather delicious meal. I still get an impression of Iron Maiden from them, I think it is the harmonies they deploy on the guitars, it is so subtle and yet it cuts through so well. The combination of the dirt and clean vocals again is served up at the right time to suit the song, showing that everything they do is measured so it hits with maximum effect. There is a superb melody line running this one that is worth the price of entry on its own.
The melody, set against the rhythm parts evokes the right emotional heft from it, and it carries the song so well. There is a transition into the last two minutes where the mood changes, they throw everything at you – the cleans, the dirt, the melody breaks as a means of a triumphant closing statement. And it is fantastic, it’s the just the sort of song that could close any show. 8/10
Turbokill - Champion (Steamhammer/SPV) [Matt Bladen]
Formed after Stephan Dietrich left classic metal band Alpha Tiger, Turbokill wanted to do something different so they are much more akin to the bright breezy sound of European power metal, it's a style that many German bands do so well, in some respects being the originators of the sound, but much of it has come from outside of Germany recently so Champion and Turbokill's previous album could be seen as part of reactivation of sorts for this particular genre.
Fusing modern metal production, with the sound of late 80's early 90's power metal Champion is an album that brings the best of all worlds, Turbokill tweaking everything they established on their debut to make it better. The songs are more progressive, and varied, the performances tighter and much of the record hits that sweet spot for fans of Teutonic power metal
The major factor of the band is Stephan's vocals, they soar high above the galloping rhythms from Ronny Schuster (rhythm guitar), Marco "Fox" Grünwald (bass) and Kevin Käferstein (drums), encouraging sing alongs like bands such as Freedom Call (Power Punch) or Helloween (Sons Of The Storm). Dietrich's vocals extremely similar to one Mr Michael Kiske, this is immediately evident on opener A Million Ways, the Helloween influence staying strong for most of the record. Time To Wake though has a folky touch of Blind Guardian, as Go Your Way begins with some Priest-like lead guitar from Daniel Kanzler.
Joyous power metal that's etched into the fabric of these musician's heritage, Turbokill have declared that are they want to be Champions of power metal with this second album. 8/10
Jaded Heart – Intuition (Massacre Records) [Simon Black]
You know the beauty of this reviewing lark is you get to discover a whole bunch of music that you might not otherwise get a chance to without intervention. Most people lock their music tastes and preferences in early, with relatively little drift and introducing new stuff is a combination of recommendation, accidental live exposure or, more recently. things like Smart Shuffle features that fiddle around the edges of your streaming playlists.
I got back into all malarky a few years back for exactly that reason that I wanted to hear new stuff, and whilst I expected to focus on finding new young bands, I’ve also discovered a shit tonne of much older bands that were completely new to me. Jaded Heart are a great example of this.
They’ve been around since 1994 during my own wilderness years, but like many Euro acts from this time haven’t done much in the UK anyway, despite having a healthy following and a fifteen-album discography to back them up. This EP is primarily a vehicle for opening track Intuition, with the remaining three being either covers or live renditions delivered with their traditional Euro-Metal style.
Intuition is a good straight ahead metal track, which highlights the skills of the players well, has a nice catchy melody and switches groove enough times to work well in a crowded live setting.
Things switch up a gear with a cover of Ghost’s Square Hammer, which as everyone who hates Ghost will tell you, sounds a lot better with a bit more metal beef added to it. To be fair, Ghost always sound way heavier live instrumentally anyway, but Johan Fahlberg has way more power in his voice and it uplifts the track very well. Europe’s Dance The Night Away is the second cover, and again has way more welly than the original and benefits from a much more up tempo in your face delivery than anything the song’s originator ever churned out.
Closing with a live rendition of Love Is A killer from their last full-length I am left with two opinions. One, that Swedish Euro Rock sounds much better done like this (sorry Europe and Ghost), and that this is a band I need to listen to more of. 7/10
The major factor of the band is Stephan's vocals, they soar high above the galloping rhythms from Ronny Schuster (rhythm guitar), Marco "Fox" Grünwald (bass) and Kevin Käferstein (drums), encouraging sing alongs like bands such as Freedom Call (Power Punch) or Helloween (Sons Of The Storm). Dietrich's vocals extremely similar to one Mr Michael Kiske, this is immediately evident on opener A Million Ways, the Helloween influence staying strong for most of the record. Time To Wake though has a folky touch of Blind Guardian, as Go Your Way begins with some Priest-like lead guitar from Daniel Kanzler.
Joyous power metal that's etched into the fabric of these musician's heritage, Turbokill have declared that are they want to be Champions of power metal with this second album. 8/10
Jaded Heart – Intuition (Massacre Records) [Simon Black]
You know the beauty of this reviewing lark is you get to discover a whole bunch of music that you might not otherwise get a chance to without intervention. Most people lock their music tastes and preferences in early, with relatively little drift and introducing new stuff is a combination of recommendation, accidental live exposure or, more recently. things like Smart Shuffle features that fiddle around the edges of your streaming playlists.
I got back into all malarky a few years back for exactly that reason that I wanted to hear new stuff, and whilst I expected to focus on finding new young bands, I’ve also discovered a shit tonne of much older bands that were completely new to me. Jaded Heart are a great example of this.
They’ve been around since 1994 during my own wilderness years, but like many Euro acts from this time haven’t done much in the UK anyway, despite having a healthy following and a fifteen-album discography to back them up. This EP is primarily a vehicle for opening track Intuition, with the remaining three being either covers or live renditions delivered with their traditional Euro-Metal style.
Intuition is a good straight ahead metal track, which highlights the skills of the players well, has a nice catchy melody and switches groove enough times to work well in a crowded live setting.
Things switch up a gear with a cover of Ghost’s Square Hammer, which as everyone who hates Ghost will tell you, sounds a lot better with a bit more metal beef added to it. To be fair, Ghost always sound way heavier live instrumentally anyway, but Johan Fahlberg has way more power in his voice and it uplifts the track very well. Europe’s Dance The Night Away is the second cover, and again has way more welly than the original and benefits from a much more up tempo in your face delivery than anything the song’s originator ever churned out.
Closing with a live rendition of Love Is A killer from their last full-length I am left with two opinions. One, that Swedish Euro Rock sounds much better done like this (sorry Europe and Ghost), and that this is a band I need to listen to more of. 7/10
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