INFERNO

That little grey puddle on the floor you're politely avoiding is what's left of my brain, after being introduced to the single-minded intensity of this Acid Rock power trio from somewhere in Germany (by way of Alpha Centauri, no doubt). Discovering the band was not unlike meeting the business end of a sledgehammer aimed at your head: if nothing else, you have to respect the sheer visceral impact of the experience.

The entire album, all of it instrumental, has only two lopsided tracks. The opening fusillade, "Mental Record", immediately charts a course toward the outer cosmos, but it's only a prologue to the all-too aptly named title track: a relentless 52-minute juggernaut of a jam session (and no, that length is not a slip of the fingers). So, how does one develop an almost hour-long, one-chord improvisation without it sounding completely self-indulgent? Very slowly, as it turns out, and with a lot of stamina.

Hell, even the most amateur punk rocker typically needs three chords to form a band. But that's a few too many for interstellar voyagers like Electric Moon. The effects-driven lead guitar of Sula Bassana sets the pace; the unfussy bass playing of Komet Lulu provides the anchor (she also created the eye-frying lysergic cover art: another facet of the band's admirable DIY aesthetic). And the stock of cool pseudonyms apparently ran out before reaching Alex the drummer.

There's nothing particularly complicated here, no true instrumental virtuosity or thematic musical development. Just pure, hardcore psychedelia, played at punishing length: the perfect diversion for all you cosmic rock masochists (and you know who you are). Why bother indulging in recreational drugs, with music like this to bend your tender psyche into möbius strips?

This is only speculation, but I'm guessing the group's albums are more or less interchangeable. So this one probably works as well as any other, with a caution: if played loud enough and long enough, it may ultimately prove fatal. But what a way to go.

Mind the puddle, on your way out...