Nordic Notes    Hidria Spacefolk : Symetria (FIN,2007)***°

I remembered Hydria Spacefolk as evolving through their releases to a more spacerock territory, but this release proves they keep their ideas pretty open to fuse with different territories. Already on “Symetria” I notice how much their attention to rhythms, to the guitar/keyboard/rhythm balance is done with a clear mind, different from all other, more stoned and jammed spacerock related bands.

On “Futur Ixiom” the band makes such nice and attractive themes of playing combinations, this sounds almost pop-attractive, somewhat danceable and happy, with fine rhythmical changes, and driven more by these inspiring rhythms than by psychedelic effects. Where “322” starts with a more usual, rather heavy, spacerock pattern-rhythmic drive, suddenly is added a “disco” trumpet and funkier guitars, using all the spacerock effects for a very different musical purpose. This is another surprise, which is clearly made with pleasure. “Flora/Fauna” proves their second part of their name, ‘Spacefolk’ right. It starts with acoustic guitars, even uses accordion, while spacerock rhythms make a new genre, as if this was ever done before, as if this is nothing unusual. “Radien” is a relaxed form of spacerock, of which the filmic production effects added, I like very much, drives and rocks further on. Also “Sine” is more recognisable as a spacerock improvisation, keeping the clarifying production of sound and has some part built up that adds a few metal-rock effects of riffs into the trip.

A professional album that makes the group distinctive in a genre that usually does not know so much variation. 

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/hidriaspacefolk
Homepage : http://www.hidriaspacefolk.st
Intro group : http://www.ilosaarirock.fi/2007/english/bands/hidria_spacefolk.html
Other reviews : http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue36/hidriasymetria.htm
& http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200812.php#hidria
German reviews : http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/index.php?bandId=1614&content=band

First two albums are reviewed on http://progressive.homestead.com/FINLANDGROUPS2.html
Nasoni Rec.        Vibravoid : The Politics Of Ectasy (D,2008)***°

The band sounds very much rooted in something which made Ozric Tentacles so strong in the nineties : they delivered strong contrasting sounds of rhythms (drums, bass, guitars), within a spacey flow (the oscillating and frequenced sounds of keyboards). This was, and for Vibravoid still is a perfect alternative to dance related events, so that you can equally and easily be hooked by it on live performances, because the boozed bass, guitars and sequencers vibrate hypnotically with a trance-enduing flow. Vibravoids’ clarity of sonic contrasts uses new production techniques for the best possible sound, with powerful contrasts but also lots of sonic peaks giving the best effect for worse equipment. But there are also post-sixties popsych song influences in some tracks (like a well recognisable version of a Strawberry Alarm Clock song, “Incense and peppermints”). Near the end however the trip takes over, with more 3-dimensional effects and experiences. This becomes associated (with original spoken word from 1967) with Timothy Leary’s “turn on, tune in and drop out”, a definition which became just like pure acid, no longer like a philosophical idea, but like an excuse to be wound up by mechanical vibrations. The last two bonus tracks are more rhythmical but less groovy and sound more like a computer arrangement than a live analogue synthesizer improvisation.

Homepage : http://www.vibravoid.de/
Band releases info : http://psychedelic-music.net/pmdb/db3/db_band.php4?id=65
Label info : http://www.nasoni-records.com/new_releases.html#The_Politics_Of_Ecstasy
Raig    Tigrova Mast (CR,rec.2005,pub.2007)****'

Tigrova Mast is said to be Gut on bass, Heart on drums and Brain on microkorg. The album of over 32 minutes is over before one knows it, but it is loaded with ideas. This is technical heavy rock with fast keyboards, often melodic and with Middle Eastern or other exotic tunes, fast bass, and fast skilful drums. Two Arab/Turkish samples are mixed in with electronic distorted break-beat rhythms, before new inspirations appear, like punk-dance surf music. There is so much happening I probably have forgotten to mention many other elements with this. Anyhow, the technicality never is overloaded, the ideas come in one by one, logical and still surprising. A fantastic album, recommended to fans of Secret Chiefs 3. This sounds a bit like East European version of Ruins mixed with exotic keyboard tunes. The album was also mastered by Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins).

Audio : "Mjesec Ko Sablja", "Tehnika Narodu", "Zlatni Kalasnjikov", "Svinjska Alka"
& on http://www.myspace.com/tigrovamast
Video's of performances on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhJTFDC_Sfg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQWygaJ2LKk
Homepage : http://www.tigrovapomast.com/
Label info & review : http://www.raig.ru/tigrovamast.asp#R022
Other reviews : http://www.deafsparrow.com/Tigrova-Mast-Review.htm
& http://www.monochrom.at/cracked/reviews/Rev%20tigrovamast.htm
& http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200749.php#tigrova
& http://www.disagreement.net/reviews/tigrovamast_tigrovamast.html
& on http://thesilentballet.com/...
& http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue32/tmast01.html
& on http://shop.avantmusic.ru/default.aspx?ti=1&hti=27&prod=535&prod_type=1
Cuneiform Rec.   Radio Massacre International : Rain Falls In Grey (UK,2007)***

This latest album by this spacepsych/electronic trio is dedicated to Syd Barrett remembering him (he died in 2006), a force behind early Pink floyd. Strangely enough, the musical influence noticeable behind this new album has nothing of the essence of Syd Barrett’s ideas, so the reference is nothing more than a motive to take infinite improvisations to some Pink Floyd related themes, which often have more references to late Pink Floyd’s more spacey keyboards, as well as to Gilmourish guitar excursions, references which also fit more with the group’s usual approach. This does not bring the group’s inspiration to a sixties level. They continue in the late 90’s Sun Dial spacerock infinities while adding only once in a while these references, like during very big outros. Also Pink Floyd-like are wordless vocal mindlosers, into these outros. Also just once, another spacey reference that comes closing in is of a late Klaus Schulze, again adapted, vaguely imitated and embedded in their own inspirations, with their mind towards infinity, as always. The artwork (done by Daevid Allen -now called Daevid Alien-, so that is clear), also makes much more references to Gong (the yellow moon, the pixies and so on), which musically in fact still makes sense, because like Gong, also Rado Massacre International uses sax into a spacey sound (much more to say about Gong, but that’s of a different story). All this makes me wonder why the introduction for the cd wasn’t a more an open reference to a wider range of old psychedelic and cosmic music times, where Syd Barrett lived. His pinpoint took later groups, like RMI to much spacier and more far-out music, and quite often to much more loose structures as Barrett would have wanted it to happen, but that is the second sad side of (musical) evolution in history. The mastermind behind Barrett is long since gone and evaporated, into space.

Audio : "Better Days"
Label info : http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/rmi.html
Other reviews : http://www.rmi.dircon.co.uk/rainfall.htm
& http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-19289.html
& http://www.lasercd.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=RUNE+256
& http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/raingrey.cfm
& http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6263
Previous Radio Massacre International release is reviewed on http://progressive.homestead.com/prog16.html
Lollipop Shop    V.A. : Eastern Space Cakes (HU/PL/RO,rec.2005-2006,pub.2007)****

Lollipop Shop was one the only labels who since 1992 were involved very early with Eastern European groups. (In those days communication with these countries was even more slow and difficult than today). They started to release vinyl albums from Atman (Poland -see my pages on next page-), Ole Lukkoye (Russia -I have reviewed some albums on next page-) and Korai Öröm (Hungary -see one review up-). With this release they look back at this engaged period, in which also some European and even US tours took place.

Somehow the compilation hangs well together and gives a certain variety of comparable fundaments, with a sound which is a bit more typical for Eastern Europe of alternative rather acoustic, psychedelic or free and moody music. To some degree the compilation convinces in showing this communal sound that fits more with those far eastern European regions, an enjoyable trance-excursion with vague folk memories and instruments used.

Two groups that developed out of Atman (I have mentioned already my own fan-page here) were listed : The Magic Carpathians (also with one separate page here),and Pathman. The Magic Carpathians developed their own live-improvisational esoteric world of loop-based improvisations of guitars oscillations and feedbacks with sax and other instruments this track was recorded at WNUR radio, Chicago). The Pathman track refers a bit more to Atman, a fine and moody live improvisation session with guitar with amplified echoing distortion, percussion and zither.
What fits with this is Asunta’s improvisation on sax and a harmonium-like drone, released on Atman’s Fly label.

Most acoustic group of all is Úzgin Ülver from which I have their first, ethno-folktrance album. This track is also something like shamanic trance-psychedelia played by traditional East-European instruments, a convincing track, taken from a later album.

Archinta’s track (also Poland) is, a wordless and moody vocal improvisation somewhat with vague folk references, while acoustic strummed guitar, organ and bass follow the nice and simple slightly melancholic mood...

Then we also have the rather psychedelic rhythmical and spacey ethno-trance groups, like Oranzada (Poland), from which the voice brings the spacey effects down to more normal rock measures on the listed track, or Nu, from Romania, a well chosen trance fragment of their release (which I reviewed before on next page) with ethnic instruments, samples, and psychedelic effects, or Korai Öröm, with a more by modern trance-rhythms and psychedelic dub driven track compared to the tracks of the previously reviewed album (see up). It includes also folk flutes.
Comparable to them is Trottel Monodream (Hungary), who are listed with a track with electronic psych-trance rhythms and tunes, with drums, violin, like Archinta, with improvised wordless singing, and lots of percussion, again with a typical and comparable psych-trance effect.
Similar in rich effects of rhythm and sounds as previous groups, slightly post-shamanic, are more folk-inspired tracks like Volga’s track (from Moscow, Russia).

Label info : http://www.lollipopshop.de/newsletter.html
German review on http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/...

Group links :
Oranzada : http://www.oranzada.com/
Volga : http://volgamusic.ru/
Üzgin Üver : http://www.uzginuver.hu/ & http://www.myspace.com/uzginuver
Trottel Monodream : http://trottel.hu/
Archinta : http://www.wmoichoczach.com.pl/shop2/product_info.php?products_id=463
http://www.folkowa.art.pl/index.php?opcja=recenzje&&aid=31&&act=show&&lang=pl
Lollipop Shop Korai Öröm : Volume Zero (HU,rec.1997-2005,pub.2007)***°

We never hear much from Hungary, but Korai Öröm remained one of these bands who made it to the psychedelic music lovers. This volume zero, I assume, tends to look back on that period, with tracks from 1997 until 2005 (the band had already a private release in 1993). Korai Öröm’s sound added something extra to upcoming bands with popularity in the late ‘90s, just like Ozric Tentacles (to name the most known band), with spacejam psychedelica that used slightly exotic percussion. I am not absolutely sure who started to do this, but Korai Öröm surely succeeded well with this sound, also because they were from Hungary and used small influences of Eastern European singing (solo or in choir form to mix in), and flute playing. They mixed dance floor rhythms in their sounds (more vivid than chill-out, and with a slight dub influence just here and there), without ever having anything from the mainstream. Instead they succeeded to uplift the trance-dance association to psychedelic rock heights and effect (also due to spacey electric guitars), with use of a certain rhythmic complexity (just a bit electronic but mostly acoustic). The album gives 5 very good perhaps better moments of samples (between over 6 and almost 9 minutes) of this strength. It is clear for me that the two extra tracks, a more DJ-exploitative track, and a remix are still ok, perhaps nice but this isn’t the same essence or thing. Never the less, this compilation is a great starter for the group (I heard a few other albums before, years ago).

Audio and info : http://www.myspace.com/koraiorom
Homepage : http://www.korai.hu
Label info on group : http://www.lollipopshop.de/artists/koraiorom01.html
and on release : http://www.lollipopshop.de/newsletter.html
Other contact for label : http://www.myspace.com/lollipopshop
Other review : http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue36/Koraioromvol1.htm
with previous release : http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue15/korai04.html
German review on http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/...
& http://www.ragazzi-music.de/koraiorom07.html
Acme Rec.    Sun Dial : "pumkinhead" EP (UK,2007)**'

I will also mention this EP especially because I was sent a copy.  It is a signed and numbered 4-track EP which is only available through myspace. Two electric psych tracks are alternated by 2 acoustic tracks, songs with an indie-pop edge (one with additional electric violin). The alternation is great to listen too. To some point the group is here much more related to a superficial youngster-rock feeling of indie-pop with a post-rock edge than it is related to the 90s post-psychedelia in which they also belonged.

Only available through http://www.myspace.com/sundial001

NEW PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC  REVIEWS
page 6

Black Sun Ensemble ('08)
Causa Sui ('07)
Hidria Spacefolk ('07)
Korai Öröm ('97-'05->'07)
Obskuria ('07)
Radio Massacre Internationa ('07)
Seven That Spells ('06,'07/'08,'08)
Sun Dial ('93-'94->'07,'94-'95->'07,'07)
Tigrova Mast ('07)
V.A.: Eastern Space Cakes ('05-'06->'07)
Vibravoid ('08)

Acme Rec.     Sun Dial : Libertine (rec.UK,1993-1994,pub.2007)*

I remember Sun Dial as one of the influential groups for the sound of psychedelia in the 90s. In case of this early work the fundament is rather simple songs, sounding like stoner rock, without much variation. Somewhere we can hear that one foot of influence comes from 60 songs, but the new context has such a thick smoky density there hardly is much left to see.

Audio : "Going Down"
& http://playlouder.com/downloads/release/~libertine-2006-edition-file/


Acme Rec.          Sun Dial : Acid Yantra (UK,rec.1994-1995,pub.2007)*°

The second reissue also has song fundaments, with improvisation, luckily shows more the talent of the guitarists, with Gary Ramon leading, colliding and leading to endless wah-wah spirals, sometimes with acoustic guitar as well. It was mostly this guitar work which was Sun Dial’s strength and trademark.

Intro on group : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Dial
& http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sun+Dial
Homepage : http://www.sundial.org.uk/ with audio : http://www.myspace.com/sundial001
Interview with Gary Ramon : http://www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone/interview_004.en.php
http://www.freecitymedia.com/BigSunDialFrameSet.htmlnext release->
GO TO NEXT REVIEW PAGES ->
(new psych)
or go back to progr/psych music index
or go back to general music index
Elektrohasch Schallpl.    Causa Sui : Free ride (DK,2007)**°'

The album slowly develops, is based upon jam-psychrock, with a bit of acoustic and mostly electric associations, with just small space jam touches, a few progressive ideas, and some hard rock facilities. The least appealing, but still rather fitting, is the lead singers voice which can be slightly tiring, with its slightly clogged nose head sound, giving the music an inevitable stoner, mind-blank jamming mode, a doomy and dimmed content, giving me, with the slower evolutions of the jam, a feeling that I have heard this in some form more often before, since the 90s, even when this form tends to uplift itself with the hard rock associations added to it. But once the group comes to more heavy riffs, only then the free ride thoroughly seems to show itself. With more jamming bass and fuzz guitars the group comes to their highlight, losing their heads to finally go for this free ride, not only more thoroughly and convincing until the last track, “Newborn Road”.

Audio : "Lotus" & http://www.myspace.com/causasui
& on http://www.juno.co.uk/products/270906-02.htm
Homepage : www.causasui.com
Other reviews : http://www.stonerrock.com/store/info.asp?item_num=ATH-4404
German reviews : http://www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/c/causa_sui/free_ride.html
& http://www.metal.de/cdreviews.php4?was=review&id=8115
Dutch review : http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=9678
Remarks on Causa Sui : http://www.lowcut.dk/043_lc/interview/6.asp
World In Sound    Obskuria : Discovery Of Obskuria (D/PER/US,2007)**°

When combining talents of different groups, and this with the help of concepts of a new discovered world (in music), one would expect some kind of Supergroup, but the new world concept is kept extremely vague, and is a discovery in an Erich Von Däniken way, and while the group’s members are rather limited in playing and are too like-minded, they mostly jam their UFO’s not too high away from the ground, and it doesn’t come much further than with the talent of a single group. So, no Supergroup, and a rather lazy concept, but still a few fine long stoner jams and a few variations of ideas with only a few surprises which I will explain further.

Obskuria consists of Tom Brehm from Ohio’s 60s/70s band Dragonwyck, -who last year had a reunion tour-, the complete hard stoner-psych group of Peruvian La Ira De Dios and the German psych/space/jam rock bands Treacle People and Karmic Society.

Mostly, the music has a stoner rock jam core, which endlessly improvises, with the organ on top of it making it a bit different to usual stoner head music. One of the most successful moments is “Forbidden Look”, which seems to jam on Pink Floyd’s bass theme of “Interstellar Overdrive”, in a more stoner way, and with the organ swirling over it ; then the bass line becomes a bit more like Motörhead’s Lemmy’s bass to Hawkwind. Different was also the first track which had more “punk” vocals. And, really completely different was the last track, reminding us suddenly that this album had a conceptual context in mind : a so called interview with someone who survived the world which went down, a laughing crazed person who gets a funky accompaniment, including trumpet and funky guitar!

PS. Only afterwards I realized the meaning of Distopia : the opposite of Utopia presenting all negative aspects of the world. In the picture of increasing reflection of the growing tendency in taking methodologist seriously, what's the use of negativism ? I think we need persons with visions to know how to save what we have.

Audio : http://www.myspace.com/obskurians
Homepage : http://www.obskuria.com/
Label : http://www.worldinsound.com/
Other review : http://www.justforkicks.de/detail.asp?uid=0&id=7212&lid=1
German review : http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/album_8673.html
Dutch review : http://www.velvetmusic.nl/...
Raig   Seven That Spells : It Came from the Planet of Love (CR,2006)***°

The album contains two tracks only, of which the first track works like a drug injected by a doctor, changing the bodily condition a bit with its tension, but the second injection also affects the mind. The first half hour jam started with echoing bottleneck effects on electric guitar, before a space rock jam burst out its space, with only a small calmer part with a sample of Tibetan singing somewhere. This whole, long piece is not really building up many ideas, but remains a bit too steady on its fast beating heart beat affected with an adrenaline injection. The second jam however, with no warning blurs into its space rock jam, quickly brings the listener into a natural feeling of a stoned vibe that becomes hyper ventilation, working quite well to psyche edelic my head ! Then it pauses shortly, breaths, and then becomes an, even more, wild beast, hardly impossible to freak out more than this, with distortions and high toned overloads. Then the beast breaths again, pauses..to bass, a soft rainy hiss, a futuristic beam into another world..of UFOnaut feedback sounds, high and low toned radio waves tensions, that drones into the area.

Audio : fragment, fragment
& on http://www.myspace.com/seventhatspells
Homepage : http://www.7thatspells.com/
Label info & review : http://www.raig.ru/seventhatspells.asp
Other reviews : http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue34/sevspel4.html
& http://www.geocities.com/prognaut/reviews/sts2.html

2007 album reviewed on http://psychemusic.org/JAPANpsych.html ; 2008 album here->
Slowburn Rec.       Black Sun Ensemble :
Across The sea of Id : The Way To Eden (US,2008)***'

Black Sun Ensemble is one of the longer surviving second generation psychedelic / progressive groups. I do not remember the details too well. I only know I still have some of their early albums...

This album seems to build up like a long improvisation based upon guitars mostly and some sitar (sounding more like sitar-guitar). This is extremely relaxed, not pushing anything. Seemingly not too ambitious or special at first, never the less the album continues to entertain, and still build up further the mood until there’s an aspect in it that makes it just slightly exotic, perhaps like the otherworldly Eden they seem to direct too. Some sax and violin an improvisation on top makes you forget that this band might have had some roots in psychedelia. This is just nice instrumental music that with all calmness of the world still seems to provoke some descriptive mood.

Homepage : http://www.blacksunensemble.com/
with audio : http://www.myspace.com/blacksunensembletoday
with info : http://www.slowburnrecords.net/BSE_ATSOI.html
Label info : http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/cam083.htm



















BLRR  Seven That Spells :Black On Rising -CD+dvd- (CR,2008)****°

“Black OM rises to claim us all” the booklet says, with the image of a shadowed sun. -This particular night, when I reviewed this album, there was a partial solar eclipse-.

…I remember some important historical events during solar eclipses. Remember how, when Christ was crucified after betrayal, in order to get rid of a possibility for change for the Jewish belief system and for the Roman ruling powers, at the moment that he so called passed away, there was a solar eclipse (besides that the big temple floor broke in two). His crucifixion had to become an example, and also was abused in a typical Roman way for turning this moment into a fundament for a religion later on. This fact did not happen "for saving the sins of the world", but to save two sorts of traditions : the Jewish and the Roman (selfish) constructions. The later, newly formed Roman-Christian religion was invented to change the people’s memory of something different behind the stories. The incomplete picture of Jesus' life and death, combined the useful tool of his strange psychology because he always kept in mind a spiritual father in heaven, because he had no other Fatherly example to focus upon, this story became the easiest to handle tool for a totally different purpose. This could bring the idea of God outside man, and would praise the sacrifice to the cross, as if it is a sacrifice to Society. Their new religion did unite God and Society into one unit, the Church, staying safely outside man's own development. It would also, thanks to another small wrong translation, place also evil, as the shadow of deeds and actions of people and society, and of course also their own actions outside man’s reach, range and perspective. It would also proclaim the benefit of a Unity (reaching towards a variety in philosophy and personalities, for the sake of a blind trust in a mono-opinion governed Society) at all costs, and -in the name of God-, which is ruled by Society. The whole original tradition of discovering wisdom and methods to unify to a complete form creativity and awareness that almost became popularised by some men, like Jesus, with this, was destroyed and wiped out of history, together with all other more clear examples of its kind, and were replaced by certain well cooperating thoughts for that purpose how to form (the rules for) the world's three biggest religions.
Another important eclipse happened when the Spanish conquerors established a forced agreement with the Indians in America to take over their land. Also this was another important moment of betrayal the results which would develop to something different for many years to come. The rights for the civilisation and for the people of that land also never truly recovered...

A solar eclipse, symbolically, takes away for a moment the attention to the natural spirit of development, like the seed for visions needed for the life giving nature of developments. At that moment the 'shadow' of all things ruling underneath could eventually take advantage of that lost moment of belief in this natural development. Be careful of its actions then! Because Light and true Life are really always behind the sun, -a force of life-, while the powers which are decided by the shadows of things, brings death to whatever they decide to destroy, and when established during a solar eclipse, they seem to be able to maintain this for a very long time.

The solar eclipse is also a symbol for the hardest and true sacrificing challenge, to put aside the dearest aspects so that in the abyss of no participation, the essence could eventually still win the game because it really is only out of it’s sight and nothing more. So even for some evil evolutions, maintaining its own life by multiplying its own flesh, far outside their visions on historical evolutions, outside a logical maintaining by restrictions, through stubborn constructions of power, certain essences still grew further elsewhere for a later date of appearance in the darkest need. This shaped Society did not notice Christ’s further travels to Tibet, or the native Indian’s silent development of a minimal essence for our later survival after a moment when the land will be no longer fertile.

Myself, looking at the front cover of The Seven That Spells new album, I have my own moments of disconnection in moments of failed concentration, attracted by these lovely sexy beautifully bosomed girls, distractions that will return my energy to its basics, while my inner, silent watcher still grows in stages of retreat, through an unseen growth process with "Buddhist" powers to make appearances that are able to reveal all connections of things, while the standard being me just seems equally limited and distracted, just like anybody, absorbed into the world's energy, with failure, because like everybody we feel we need to be part of this world, even when it is also a participation with its disconnection. But there are also other energies which have developed into the new shadows of things..

-Maybe with each solar eclipse we could remind ourselves how there is light behind the sun, and how we now and then could face the shadows of this Society, and the need to give a rightful place to light as a creative unifying power working upwards allowing life.-

After having listened to so many lazy psych jams too often, of low energies trying to speed it up with tensions of escapisms from this world's energy, it most often is not able to change that stagnant essence really. I almost forgot the true powers of psychedelia, the breaking through borders with complex rhythms and overload effects in harmonic sounds. And I am again absolutely amazed by Seven That Spells, who are able to restore that true essence for me. It takes the vague haze away, and leads to the true essence of the jam : the skills (and on another level, knowledge, against ignorant laziness) to do something more. It is no miracle to hear how Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei,..) did the mastering. He did not play, but also Bruno Motik’s drumming masters his drums. Great also to hear sax as one of the instruments, to break free. This music gives energy, and does not let any detail escape into smoke, while this is Fire.

The silver disk is actually a two-sided album, with one side a DVD of a live concert. I had the bad luck that when I did put the DVD in my PC that I heard a slipping noise and the DVD was scratched, so that the sound part of the recording now had many moments of distortion. FUCK! I could only notice how the energy of the band is total, and also mental because of its intelligent breaks, and that I liked the way it was filmed from different angles, but because of the damage unfortunately I was not able to go the whole way trough. I just got the right picture.

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/seventhatspells
Video sample on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-bakUv5fA
Label info : http://www.blrrecords.com/prod/1895/black_om_rising.html    next STS release->
Beta-Lactam Ring Rec. Seven That Spells :
Cosmoerotic Dialogue With Lucifer (CR/JAP,rec.2007,pub.2008)***'

Although recorded in the same period as the previous album, this recording, associated with eroticism (-a desire on earth-) put into cosmic heights (-so directing towards Lucifer, who else-) thhat explodes molten lave and boils over, in blood pressure, heat and intension. I guess it is Kawabata Makoto as a fourth member (in total in fact 8 people contributed) who takes the group to a no return trip. Even the drummer’s contribution changes into a lava-pushed cloudy geyser of steamed water. The bass player plays an incredibly rapid a theme which again can hardly keep up with the new losing-itself fundament of the nervously speeded up intension and vibrations of the guitars, which also are like bubbling hot water. Background vocalists and some keyboards tend to make it all mood, in a spacey way, or like an attempt to bring in a post-krautrock sphere into it, but even they cannot surpass the desires in its top cosmic fictionist vision. While all the energy remains attached, the result remains a bit blurred and lost, as if not knowing where it went to, further than this furthest point, in the power of desire beyond reach and with the visualisation beyond a reachable space, and focused beyond the reach of this object, where Lucifer is the one who consumes this dinner..

Info & audio : http://www.myspace.com/seventhatspells
Homepage : http://www.7thatspells.com/
with audio on http://7thatspells.com/hear.html
Label info with audio : http://www.blrrecords.com/...
Other reviews : http://www.lowcut.dk/...