DEAD MEADOW

It is truly a feat the music this ear shattering heavy and monolithic is so relaxing and organic at the same time. And to imagine that it came from the DC scene, where hardcore punk was the standard is even more puzzling. Dead Meadow see to have came straight from outer space. Their music echoes of a spiritual vibe that is absolutely otherworldly. However in reality they are just a bunch of kids with a love of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, as well as the surreal imagery that exist in their lyrics.

The album opens with Sleepy Silver Door, which is powered by a riff that is as power as it is beautiful. The songs drones along, drums plodding along at a classic stoner rock tempo as singer Jason Simon guiding us along on a surreal journey through mysterious lands masterfully illustrated by the groups instrumental prowess. The albums dreamlike qualities are perfectly demonstrated, before the Blue Cheer style boogie of Indian Bones. Yet even throughout the faster moment of the album, the psychedelic and dreamlike quality is maintained.

Jason Simon's masterfully played guitar solos are quite possibly the highlight of the album. His use of the wah metal to add to texture and feel is amazing. He treats the pedal like a child rather than just another effect to blast at the audience. The rhythm section of Steve Kille and Mark Laughlin are also masters of their craft, creating the powerhouse that drives Dead Meadow's sound.

So basically you'd be doing yourself a lot of good by checking out Dead Meadow, they're a band every fan of psychedelic music needs to hear. I honestly cannot imagine myself being a true fan of psychedelic without having heard this band, and this album perfectly represent their earth shattering sound.

Dead Meadow's tripped-out heavy psych style finds hem working on the borderland of stoner rock, but whereas much stoner rock revolves around 1970s nostalgia, Dead Meadow sound like the real thing - like a group scooped up from the early 1970s, carried forward in time on waves of bong smoke and by the power of their esoteric jams and given a modern studio to craft their works in. The riffs are a little heavier, but more or less everything else here follows the heavy psych playbook to perfection. It isn't perfect or revolutionary, but it's a fun diversion for anyone who likes a bit of the old space rock.

When I saw the picture of this trio in the liner notes my reaction was "These guys must still be in high School!" They look like teens with a dog in the photo as well. They recorded this their debut album late in 1999 and everyone talks about the guitar and for good reason. It's the tone, the distortion, the wah-wah we get it all and for sure the guitar stands out and is very impressive. Six of the eight tracks have vocals.

I like the packaging and the picture of this galley going up the river with mountains rising on each side with a castle on one side at the top of that mountain and a dragon on top of the other side. They were are from Washington DC but at some point moved to LA. This is the first of eight studio albums they have released. These guys are so much more than a Stoner rock band but I get how highly they are esteemed in that community and they certainly have played live a lot over the years.

There's a lot of trippy music on here with the distorted guitar being the common denominator. The opener "Sleepy Silver Door" has vocals that brought Stu from KING GIZZARD to mind although it's only on this song I hear that. "Indian Bones" is catchy with the guitar grinding it out over top, vocals too. Neil Young comes to mind with the higher pitched vocals on "At The Edge Of The Wood" as we get a more folky sound with the strummed guitar and not much else.

That closer "Rocky Mountain High" follows that sparse track and benefits from that as a contrast as they hit us with a powerful sound here with plenty of depth. So much fuzz! "Lady" is another great guitar track and he burns it up slowly before 3 minutes. Some energy on this one otherwise. "Beyond The Fields We Know" is the longest at 9 1/2 minutes and features a bass solo and builds from there. Beautiful stuff 6 1/2minutes in. So many good songs on this album including "Greensky Greenlake" where they slow it down but check out the passion 2 minutes in.

A solid 4 star record and I believe their last release was in 2022 so I'm glad they are still making music.