Norway's masters of psychedelic rock return with their latest album Downpour, a drastic departure from their previous couple of releases which incorporated more acid-jazz and post rock improvisations, here replaced with a stoner rock ferocity that allows the band to utilize fuzz and heavy riffing to go along with their psych explorations, and the results add up to quite a heavy album that guitar lovers are instantly going to gravitate towards. Ask Vatn Strøm dips into his bag of tricks and unleashes a non-stop assault of hot guitar mayhem on tracks such as "Black Time Fuzz" and "Amazon", and he's joined on the latter by Hedvig Mollestad, who brings some additional guitar firepower to the party. The near 8-minute title track sees a busy Ingvald André Vassbø laying down some busy beats over which Ask's wah-wah guitars can soar, while "Orbit" is a must hear for any fan of heavier Hawkwind or Monster Magnet, blipping synths and crushing riffs flying all around the stratosphere. The album ends with the two-part, 15+ minute "Solaris", where majestic lead guitar lines meet trippy psyche and monster guitar & bass riffs from Vatn Strøm and Eskild Myrvoll.
Downpour is a perfect choice for those who can't be bothered with vocals in their psychedelic and stoner music. This is a heavy, heavy album.
Track Listing
1.
Black Time Fuzz 04:24
2.
Amazon ft. Hedvig Mollestad 06:00
3.
Downpour 07:38
4.
Psunspot 01:04
5.
Orbit 06:17
6.
Solaris Pt. 1 07:47
7.
Solaris Pt. 2 07:36