Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief

Satan's Satyrs play dirty, dingy rock and roll tinged with that punk attitude that everyone loves so much (amirite?). The guitar tone here is off the chart, transporting you right to the heart of Fuzz City USA. We lose a bit of clarity in the overall production sound, which is a bit muddy, and the drums have this strange treble-heavy density to them (which is rather intruding at first but you get used to it), almost as if they are being played in another room away from you, but if anything, this just adds to the charm of the record, which is a highly enjoyable, mirky romp through witch/doobie burning excellence.

"Electric Witchwhipper" is probably my favourite track, and is just totally dripping in sleaze, making me want to dive into a swimming pool filled with 80s exploitation films (ouch!). Check it out below.

Om / Six Organs Of Admittance - Split 7"

It is quite a bizarre feat to see the sprawling works of Om confined to the time restraints of a 7" record. Nevertheless, the duo manage to pull it off without it having any negative impact on proceedings. I seem to keep forgetting (I know, right?) that Om are one of my favourite bands, and this obscure 7" does not disappoint in any way shape or form. However, if you are new to Om, I would suggest starting where their music has a bit more room to breathe.

This is however, my first dabble with Six Organs Of Admittance; "Assyrian Blood" showcases intense atmospherics, with hopeless drones verging almost into harsh noise. This is musical meditation pushed up to 11. The material on this split in particular reminds of the group Barn Owl, if not a bit more introspective. 

Gorilla Pulp - Peyote Queen

Fantastic heavy stoner rock from Italy. Think Samsara Blues Experiment but heading off in a more straight-forward, Kyuss-themed direction, rather than becoming lost in endless songs. The psych here is well controlled and reigned in, but do not fret - there is plenty of "woah!", "man!," and "duuuude!" moments here to keep perpetuating the frrrreakah enough to space these bluesy numbers out into the stoner territory. Hey, there's even a Peter Frampton-style wah part towards the end. What more do you need? Also, as a strange off-note, sometimes the vocalist gets really into these heavy redneck American stylings, it almost sounds like ex-Mushroomhead frontman Waylon Reavis.

Honestly though, it's all a bit typical of this kind of thing and brings absolutely nothing new to the table. That isn't to say that this isn't an enjoyable listen, just don't expect Gorilla Pulp to re-invent the wheel. All the tropes are in place; the beautiful crunching guitars, the (probably) hand-painted 60s tits on the record sleeve, and the song titles such as "Magic Mushroom", "Witch Boogie" and "Electric Woman".

It's time to shake the dust off those bell bottoms and scrap all the crap out of your bong.

Bong - Stoner Rock

What part of this release constitutes as ‘rock’ I’m not entirely sure, but Bong have got the ‘stoner’ part of the title 100% correct. Well, with a name like Bong would more would you expect? Such a simple yet fathomless name can only lend itself to a simple (in theory) yet fathomless (in practice) sound. Bong is music for those who aren’t afraid to sit tight and experience the long haul; the great build up, the magic of the meandering drone into a stoned culmination of noise and bliss. Yes. It certainly made the inane task of steaming spilt coffee / beer / questionable substances off my beige sofa a much more enjoyable  task. For when you want your mundane housework to become a mystical journey into the arcane, I recommend Bong. Don’t be fooled by the 2 track running time, these are enormous stoned monuments of fuzz.

The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

Welcome to another post about another album that I have put off buying for nearly a decade. You can thank the wondrous Amazon marketplace for these posts that should have rightly been made a long time ago; their CD prices are sometimes so goddamn obscene that I cannot resist buying a whole bunch of new CDs every week. This one cost me a little more than the usual 1p, but it was still a criminal sum for a brand spanking new CD. I’ve received some sorry looking CDs through the Amazon marketplace (particularly from Zoverstocks) but this one is pristine in every single way. Anyway, onto the recording itself!

Deloused In The Comatorium is an extremely ambitious debut from a band that includes those two chaps from At The Drive In and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on bass, and a bunch of other guys that I’ve not heard of before. I don’t really know that much about RHCP or of ATDI for that matter, but considering the type of stuff that both those acts produce, you’d never in a million years expect something as mind-bogglingly experimental as this. To sum up quickly; Deloused… is a concept album based on the experiences of a dude called Cerpin Taxt, who journeys through a week-long coma induced by consuming a concoction of morphine and rat poison. Yeah.

Before I start going into particular tracks, I would just like to say that the instrumentation here is absolutely flawless; the guitar work is enough to fuck with any 6-stringed student’s head, whilst retaining that dirty, distorted “indie” sound in the loud parts, keeping everything nice and digestible. The bass, by the ever-amazing Flea, whilst playing perfectly, is kinda kept in the background for the entire album. You can hear him clearly, but the bass is the backbone here, which isn’t what you’d expect from something that seems to be so hay-wire with it’s other comprising elements. I can’t tell if there are electronics going on here or if they are just severely mangled guitar sounds. Either way, they add a whole new depth to most of the tracks. Finally, the drumming is precise, fill-happy and extremely busy (and often very Latin-sounding).

I think you’re either gonna love or hate the voice of Cedric Bixler; his high-pitched wails, whines and nasally highs are enough to get up the backs of more gruff rock’n’roll listeners, but whilst I am not particularly a massive fan of this style of vocal performance, I think that it works perfectly with the music. The first proper track “Inertiatic ESP” has an enormous chorus, and Cedric's vocals work so perfectly on the chorus.

I could go into every song here but they are so varied that this blog post will end up lasting a million years, which I do try to avoid. Whilst I do like writing in depth about records, it is time consuming on both myself and the reader; and I don’t want things to get too boring! Anyways, thanks to the copyright-defying users of Youtube.com I can let the fantastic tunes of The Mars Volta do the rest of the talking. If you’ve got an hour spare (and an open mind) I would definitely recommend giving Deloused In The Comatorium a listen through. This catch-up purchase of a band that I liked once upon a time has initiated a whole new love for me; it’s time for me to go out and discover the rest of the material that The Mars Volta has to offer. Cheerio!