KINGDOM OF OBLIVION

Even for a band like Motorpsycho, I bet it'd be hard to make another album that could live up with an amazing trilogy as good as the Gullvåg trilogy. So, for their 2021 follow up record, the band would release Kingdom Of Oblivion, an album that would be a lot denser than its predecessors, while still trying something new.

What is found on Kingdom Of Oblivion is a lot more rooted in hard rock and heavy psychedelic rock sounds, like Heavy Metal Fruit and The Crucible, though the difference here is that the rock aspects are a lot more focused on here than those two records. What I like about Kingdom Of Oblivion is that it feels like a strong tribute to the old hard rock sounds of the 70s and early 80s with bands like Led Zeppelin, Rush, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, whilst also paying some homage to the stoner rock scene of groups like Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, Clutch, and Elder. It all feels like this one tribute to all those great bands whilst also keeping in touch with their Norwegian prog rock sound.

I also really like how more rock focused this is compared to other releases. The more heavy prog nature this album composes is quite the treat to my ears, and the more guitar driven pieces like The Waning, The United Debased, and At Empire's End are always a treat to listen to.

However, I feel as though this album doesn't really get those strong strokes of genius their other records deal with for me. While the music on here is good, I don't think there are any really amazing moments found within, or any moments that made me really excited, unlike what could be found on Here Be Monsters or Little Lucid Moments. It feels like the band took a few steps back in terms of musical prowess that, while it definitely has great songs to be found, do not quite hold a candle to some of their masterpieces before.

Despite my critiques, I do think this is a very enjoyable album. Definitely not their best, but not their worst. I think any Motorpsycho record can certainly still be enjoyable, even the ones I am not quite fond of, so if you want some fun hard prog rock music then check this one out.

Before I even heard of this band they had already released 14 studio albums, it's like they already had a career before I became aware of them. I'll be honest there's not much I've heard prior to "Death Defying Unicorn" that I like. Just my tastes in music but man that five album run starting with that great album I just mentioned with Stale Storlokken helping out right up to "The Tower" is a great run. This doesn't include "Begynnilser" which I don't own. I took a break from buying music from 2018 until early 2022 so I missed "Kingdom Of Oblivion" from 2021 and promise to also get to "The Crucible", "The All Is The One" and "Ancient Astronauts" in chronological order unlike this one.

I just wanted to hear this one because of it being advertised as their heaviest record. It's also a long one at over 70 minutes and there's a lot of social commentary here. The liner notes tell us who is playing but not what they are playing. At the bottom of the "Thankyous" is this long word of over 50 letters no capitals, no spaces and it's kind of funny when you do add spaces and capitals as in "Bent is loud. Tomas is louder. Reine is amazing. But only Snah is god."

Magnus Ryan and Bent Saether have been together since day one of this band going through several drummers along the way. Reine Fiske does add guitar on several tracks as a guest. This is a pretty strong album and for sure 4 stars but at that length they could have pared it down and made it better. I understand though that they wanted to balance the heaviness and it's the lighter tunes that don't do a lot for me so I wish they had have kept with the original plan of making this just about all heavy.

"Lady May" with those intricate guitar melodies and multi-vocals is nice but out of place. "The Watcher" is another one but this is interesting because it is experimental with lots of atmosphere and spoken words. "Atet" is another laid back short track that I guess provides a bumper. Even the closer with the mellotron and haunting sounds for a minute but sadly changes to an underwhelming ending to this record.

Top five includes the opener "The Waning(Pt. 1&2" just the heaviness and riffs with vocals and when the vocals step aside here comes the guitar solo. This track ends really well. The title track is a top five again powerful stuff. Some social commentary here and this is both catchy and relentless although the final minute is more laid back. "The United Debased" is another top five a 9 minute tour de force. SABBATH-styled vocals and some great guitar. "At Empire's End" contrasts the heavy and light really well and at 8 1/2 minutes lots of time to do that. And finally the longest track "The Transmutation Of Cosmoctopus Lurker" at almost 11 minutes brings us to my final top five and it should have been the closer.

A four star record but for me it's not as good as the previous five I own by them.