Gothtober -LOCH :"The Invisible Hand"

 

This California band is on the punk side of post-punk, though there is a jammy experimental vibe to what they do. The frantic first track is like Siouxsie jamming Television songs with Miranda Sex Garden. The second song has a Psychic TV level of weirdness bubbling up from the background as the drugs have kicked in already. You can hear how there is also an indie art punk tendency fueling things in the Xiu Xiu-like manner they throw sounds at you in hopes they stick, though with more anxiety and less self-loathing than Jamie Stewart. 

"Brittle" finds them latching onto an instrumental dance groove that fires up the mood that keeps things in motion for the celebratory "Spiritual Spouse" that wanders out into the same realms of space the Young Gods find themselves dancing in as well. Midway into the song, things deconstruct into weirdness before being jammed back to life in a baptism of chaos. 

"Cosmic Microwave" finds them locking into a heavier, grooving tension. There is a great deal in the song's orbit, as it sounds like it is being run through the filter of Jimi Hendrix's last acid trip. This album is dark in a more cerebral, bad trip, diving sideways into the recesses of your mind manner, so it is not for everyone, but for what it is I will give this album a 9.5, despite not knowing how much I am going to listen to they captured an interesting mental space that is noteworthy

pst487

November is Doom -Vitskar Suden :' the Faceless King"

 

Since weed is legal in California things have changed in the LA music scene, this band is not at all what you would expect, they blend a few different styles, the opening track is very surreal and dense almost like shoe gaze or post rock, but multi layered. There is a dark and somber under current to what they do. What they do does involve a great deal of weed smoked at the very least. The second song finds things congealing into a heavier storm of sound that is anchored down by more driven rock sounds and bombast drums.  The vocals cry out amid this with a very vulnerable feel to them. Not sure what to make of his voice, it is not dramatic and powerful like a metal singer would be, and more introspective. 

The third song is more Jammy and works off a more indie rock feel, The bass player is determined to hold things down with balls. The reedy tenor of the singer is more indie rock in its feel somewhat like Arcade Fire, though really reminding me more of an old Atlanta band called Five Eight.  Choa begins to reign here in the busy picture of angular fractals and trippy sounds the pour over things.  There is a sleepier strum to "Voices from Behind the Wall". I like the mood being captured here. It is dark but really hard to pin down anything it obviously sounds like. Shares some moody common ground with doom without being metal. The next comparison I can make to the kinds of sounds being artfully kicked up here is Pink Floyd, on the song "    Shepards on the Roadside" which is like if "Obscured by Clouds " collided with some of the hookier guitar work from the Wall. The vocals a retain a fragile desperate quality as they are more of a plea than belted out, 

The instrumental "Bonedust and dark" is a jammy excursion that is darker and heavier but also a murky swamp of guitar solos, that collides in atmosphere. It seems like an extension of the previous song. There are some heavier sound as in denser not metal, but it moves at a similar cloudy fog as to what we have already heard from these guys. Not to say that sound is not pleasing as it is, it could be an extension of the previous song. I will give this album a 9.5, sure it owes little to Pink Floyd and perhaps King Crimson, but those are two classics to be in debt to. 

November is Doom- REZN :"Chaotic Divine"

 Found this on a best of 2020 doom list, and the first song is doomy, but these guys are more about the drugs than the misery. It's a great album. If jam bands are too happy for you , but you like the concept , which I do, then these guys might be up your alley as well. Some what "Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun" in the was the LSD kicks into the songs spirit. The sax is a nice touch.  We begin to get out the range in more psychedelic , as they take a lazy groove with jazz undertones on the song "Garden Green" . It's not heavy or even metal, but flows as good music. The reedy tenor of the vocals is interesting . Not an Ozzy clone. 

The return to a more traditional doom sound on "the Door Opens" .  Someone else maybe the bass player takes over with a more belted lower tone that is much rougher around the edges . I doubt it's been the more androgynous vocalist who has been singing up til this point. "Clear 1" is an instrumental interlude. How much you enjoy it will depend solely on what kind of drugs you are on. "Optic Echo" builds off this but with a heavier intent. Like a dude on coke they do not keep it hard for long. I do like the hypnotic place they take it though. "Mother / Forever Time" drifts out of the previous song with a woozy almost Doors like Drone. The vocals lock into a trippy chant. 

Perhaps if Smashing Pumpkins made a song for a David Lynch movie it would sound like "Inner Architecture". The riffs build and gain some heft. The first song is almost Brian Eno era Roxy Music in it's weirdness. They get more overtly heavy on the last song. It locks into a metal chug, Have the album is doom, the other half psychedelic, but all has some kind of groove and really interesting songwriting. I will   give this album a 10 , will listen to it more for sure. If you like your doom very out of the box and not always metal then this album is for you.