Walrus: Walrus

Featuring members of Anglagard, Gul 3, The Tiny and a pair of producers/composers, Walrus appear with a self titled debut effort which sits somewhere between album and EP. Four songs and thirty three minutes is however all it takes for this band to show they have a wide scope of ideas and that they know how to craft them into eclectic servings of Kraut Rock meets Psychedelic, meets Space Rock, meets Prog, with hints of Stoner and even a whiff of Doom. The latter categories are more nodded to than fully engaged, but the groove that infuses this double drummer group certainly suggests harder hitting ideals than those ever fully revealed.

More soundscapes, or "movements" than songs, the variety between "Tromso III", "Signals", "Spitsbergen" and "Static" is stark and impressive, meaning that this purely instrumental band lack nothing for having no voice. Instead cello, farfisa organs and mini-moog rush to the fore to provide a focal point above repetitive grooves and rhythms which slowly hypnotise as the lead lines command you to their bidding. All together it makes for an at times soothing yet jarring, meandering yet pointed, concise yet drawn out journey, which beautifully cajoles the attention in a way that you barely realise, as half an hour slips by in the wink of an eye. And yet it never feels rushed, unconsidered or less than vital, with bursts of bass colliding into powering percussion via slowly eked out keyboard excursions, sometimes blarringly in your face, but more often content to unobtrusively burrow into your mind, unnoticed, but always there and always willing to jolt to the forefront for hours afterwards.

Walrus have emerged in powerful glory. Sleek, dynamic, yet worryingly massive and threatening, capable of doing you some serious damage. Four songs isn't enough, I need more.....

Track Listing
1. Tromso III
2. Signals
3. Spitsbergen
4. Static

Added: September 1st 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Walrus at Electricity Records
Hits: 2005
Language: english

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