BLACK OM RISING

Compared to the predecessor album 'The Men From Dystopia' when they collaborated with Acid Mother Temple's Kawabata Makoto, this album is less spacey but a lot more heavy - sometimes even violent. Niko Potocnjak builds up post rock alike guitar and synth walls. The songs are full of dynamic and provided with the typical SEVEN THAT SPELLS' style. So they are offering repetitive hypnotic elements as you can hear on the opener Fluxion. This brings them even near to krautrock sometimes.

Have I mentioned before that they use saxophone here and there? Somewhat unusual for a psychedelic band and Ra is surely something very special - dark and obscure - only lead by saxophone echoes and tribal drums. The following LO trilogy is intensive - brutal heavy in parts - with transitions to post rock respectively experimental post metal.

The second part of the album - starting with Black Om Rising - appeals even better to me and this is finally responsible for my decision two give four stars for the complete album. The title song shines with a punching heavy bass which pushes the song all the way supported by the drum kit. This is overlayed with floating spacey guitar and sax contributions - a fantastic composition.

Daktari comes up groovy jamming with a minimal jazzy touch. Guitar, synth and sax innovation pure with a highspeed working backing group - great! Divided in two different moods Tearjerker gets near to the typical dynamical Anekdoten style first - later followed by a gloomy ambient sound front.

A multi-layered album by all means and you can really sense the experience of the band mates. 'Black Om Rising' consists of well-conceived songs. Psych lovers who are open for a heavy sound shouldn't miss that.

Seven That Spells is the name of another of Niko Potocnjak's (also of Tigrova Mast) bands. This is in fact his primary project and he has had this band for a long time, while Tigrova Mast has only got started more recently. But only one thing matters. In whichever group he plays, we can rest assured that he and his band mates will produce some fine music and he didn't let us down this time either.

Black OM Rising is already the fifth album by this band, which put out its debut in 2003. The guys work hard, there's no doubt about that. Unlike Tigrova Mast, which is more about brutal punk/avant-garde rock, this project is more about space rock elements, in particular the hypnotic guitar themes and the dreamy keyboards. The differences between Seven That Spells and Niko's other project Tigrova Mast are very obvious. Tigrova Mast is more about first impact, the music is much more in your face, while Seven That Spells have a mystical element about them. There's still a great deal of punk and hard rock in the music (the rebellious element), but there are many more dreamy segments, which may sound ridiculous as Seven That Spells are much more guitar oriented than Tigrova Mast (Tigrova Mast in fact don't use any guitars at all), but it's true. If the pieces that are on here would grace a Tigrova Mast album, they would most likely be much shorter and not as prolonged. But it is exactly this prolonged dreaminess that makes Seven That Spells special. It separates them from the punk avant-garde that we hear with Tigrova Mast. The rhythm section is still immensely strong, the guitars are heavy, but the saxophone, synthesizer and the longer arrangements create that psychedelic space rock feel. I sometimes find space rock bands boring because their songs go on for too long and the egos can get out of hand, but with Seven That Spells everything seems to be in place. The music is just the right combination of mystical space elements and the impact of hard rock.

Even though this is just one CD, you can play it on both sides, meaning that one side contains the studio CD, while the other features a DVD of a concert Seven That Spells played in Zagreb. Just like Tigrova Mast, they come off really well live. Niko actually seems more at home with the guitar than behind those miniature keyboards, while sitting on a tiny chair. The guys have a good feeling for showmanship, they know how to get the audience fired up and involved. This applies especially to the guitar and bass players who are the most active members on stage.

There's really not much more to say. The projects of Niko Potocnjak are obviously always a total success. Black OM Rising is even more proof to that end. This is high-quality and melodic space rock that really takes you for a ride. The only pity is that the ride ends so soon. But, no matter. The guys are so hard-working that there's already a new album out entitled Cosmoerotic Dialogue With Lucifer, on which they collaborated with Kawabata Makoto.

This album moves to quite radically different direction from the earlier records I have heard, from stoner psychedelia to more aggressive jazzy noise avant tones with math rock flavours. "Fluxion" kicks on with a light stoner riff, joined by electronics and the rhythm section. Menacing bass gives groovy vibes, melodic instruments reach to euphoric states, and instruments fall in to controlled logics. Fast rhythm changes underline this more developed approach in the band's sound. Following "RA" has dark rhythm motives in it's beginning, which shortly disappear to give space for a melancholic jazzy melodies, and then these two elements unite to ethnic drumming and dark ambiences.

The three next songs seem to form a thematic entity "LO", and its first take has post rock oriented solitary guitar waiting impatiently for other instruments to join. They lurk away but still hint their presence, leaving away from the drums in closing. Second take is a bass driven pulsing piece with strong anticipating feeling and controlled chaotic developments, reminding the first album of The Psychic Paramount which I have heard. Third motive has impressive dark jazzy sonic view to grooves, which does quick visits to more hectic planes. John Zorn's jazz violence came as a distant association to my mind from this.

The title track "Black Om Rising" has quite difficult appearing drum lines, which conduct dialogue with bass, creating basis for very beautiful saxophone solo. Later the tune morphs as more uplifting guitar driven rejoicing. Next "Daktari" lounges with wahwah pedals and sudden dramatic changes, before burrowing to deep cosmic caverns. Last track "Tearjerker" continues with fronted bass and kicking rhythms, leading to vigorous chaos sequences, finally concluding to an open ambient shimmering space and electronic hovers.

So, a very different album with much new ideas, and I would recommend to fans of jazzy krautish heavy prog. I admit I personally liked the earlier albums more, but anybody searching experimental record, this is good one from the discography. Nothing technically wrong with it, on the contradictory, the playing skills have grown certainly. Stylistically this was just not my cup of tea.

SEVEN THAT SPELLS is a band out of Croatia who began playing more of a Space Rock style even being on the Russian label R.A.I.G. for a couple of albums before changing their style radically on 2008's "Black Om rising". Colour me surprised the first time I spun this expecting some sort of Psychedelia and instead getting a blend of Post Rock/ Math Rock with some heavy and complex music. The wild card is the sax but it's not used as much as on 2010's "Future Retro Spasm" which is an insane album and my favourite by the band. Anyway this record has been re-issued the most so it has it's fans. Mastered by the legendary Tatsuya Yoshida who I'm sure appreciates the complexity and power. A four piece here and they never have the same lineup at least up to 2010. The guitarist adds synths while we also get bass, drums and sax.

"Fluxion" is a killer opener with the electronics to start before guitar and swirling synths join in followed by drums then bass before a minute. Bass solo before 4 minutes. A top three has to be "Ra" with the opening tribal drumming and pulsing sounds as other beats come and go. So cool sounding. Sax kicks in sounding great and it's screaming before 3 minutes. We get a three part "Lo" series with "Lo III" being another top three. Love that heavy rhythm section as the sax drones over top. Sax is ripping it up later and the bass is huge as it usually is. "Daktari" is my final top three opening with a seventies Jazz vibe but it's drowned by an avalanche of power including Post-Rock guitars. Check out the bass work before 2 minutes with those guitar expressions. Powerful atmosphere as well. The closer has a lot of soundscape stuff but it's kind of cool how it gets louder as it plays out. It does open with some powerful sounding bass, guitar and drums before it turns spacey at 2 1/2 minutes.

I'm looking forward to spending some time with "Future Retro Spasm" in a couple of weeks where they amp it up even more. Easily 4 stars.