THE WARLOCKS

The first track, 'The Valley of Death' begins with a clean acoustic picking style and a bass heavy fuzz guitar playing a different motif over as Hecksher's vocals drone on. There are no drums or percussion at all and the approach is generally minimalism. The sound is very heavy with the distortion turned up to the max. Towards the end of the track the time signature actually changes dramatically and is almost chaotic. It feels darker with the off kilter sonic guitars which squeal in pain till it ends abruptly. A great track which is the promise of things to come.

'Moving Mountains', the longest track clocking 11 minutes, begins like the previous track but the drums soon kick in and are played by Anchondo or Mustachio quietly as the loud clanging guitars ring out. The vocals are once again full of angst almost like Radiohead in fact. Hecksher wails over a slow meandering somber soundscape. It feels rather depressing in parts. There is a lot of feedback and at one point a droning like you might hear from Sunn O))), though it is far more accessible. The instrumental break is lengthy and slow, but somehow feels relaxing. The band take their time just moving from one chord to the next effortlessly. Fraser's bass is particularly fuzzed out. The track speeds up a bit with 2 strumming guitars in harmony to each other and a straight forward drum pattern. There is nothing fancy in the musicianship but it is played in a psychedelic framework, almost in a free form jazz improv style.

'So Paranoid' is more neo-psychedelia from the band, with an interesting sound of guitars ringing out with harmonics and a whispered vocal style is sung over top. The reverb on the guitars is mesmirising. It is noisy but somehow uplifting, even hypnotically trance like. The Hawkwind influence is evident. There are no pronounced lead breaks but more a shimmering droning chord on one guitar with variations played on another guitar that even sound like a keyboard at times. This is a highlight on the album.

'Zombie Like Lovers' is another psych rock track that pounds along faster than other tracks but the shimmering drone is still present. The laconic vocals reflect the alienation, and oppression of lost love and the longing and searching for meaning in love. The instrumental break is a wall of sound of sonic sadness, melancholia that never lacks punch. I never find it draining due to the innovative method of playing in such a relaxed, laconic style. I guess this is a reflection of the hallucinogenic 70s era that this music is based on ? Timothy Leary's infamous "tune in, turn on, drop out".

'Dreamless Days' is very dreamy in its approach, extremely slow, meandering along at a mind numbing pace. It reminded me of Sigur Ros in a way, though not quite as entrancing. But this track is essentially music to fall asleep to. Nothing wrong with that if you are in the mood but it is not easy to digest when you are not. However, the point is made ? The Warlocks are producing innovative music that makes you sit up and take notice. The feedback and spacey guitar effects work rather well on this track.

Space Rock or Psych Prog in its extreme form, The Warlocks are stamping their authority on the next wave of prog. The album did not feature all the members of the group as in fact every album has had a different lineup due to problems with the members or in fighting, however this stripped down version of the group works well enough. It is a very sad melancholy album with some great tracks but as a whole is mediocre in comparison to other Space Rock out there. It still is worth a listen and I trust the band will improve as they iron out the problems they have had. Kudos to them for lasting this long ? 10 years is admirable for any band these days, let alone Psych Prog.