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avestin View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: The Mind Expansion Thread - Psych/Space Rock
    Posted: September 05 2009 at 20:01
Lately I've been going through several listening phases and one of them is me highly enjoying psych/stoner/space rock bands such as:

ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND (awesome psych rock, short songs, but to the point)

ASTRA (read the thread that Rushfan4 opened about these 70's sounding space rock band)

BLAND BLADEN (cool for those who like Hidria Spacefolk and their ilk)

EL DIABLO

EARTHLESS (awesome heavy psych rock)

FIRST BAND FROM OUTER SPACE (cool psych band from Japan)

THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND (excellent psych/space UK band)

THE GIANT HOGWEED ORCHESTRA (cool jamming from this space-rock band)

GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE

KALUTALIKSUAK (weird and well done psych)

GDEVA (nice psych/space from Russia)

KINSKI (powerful and varied output form this band)

MAMMATUS (cool stoner/psych rock)

MARY NEWSLETTER (a recent find of mine, Italian space-rock)

THE MOVEMENTS (cool late-60's-sounding band from Sweden)

ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE (awesome psych)

THE PSYCHIC PARAMOUNT (rough but good psych)

ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD (weird, creative and magical sound)

SENDELICA (nice jamming and grooving form this Welsh group)

SERPENTINA SATELITE (Kraut-rock, psych Peruvian band - read the interview I did with them here in PA)

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE (you know them, right?)

TAIPUVA LUOTISUORA (Another great Finnish band, for those who like Hidria Spacefolk)

 
So you get the idea... Say what you think of these and also post suggestions for other bands from these styles and sounds. Feel free to discuss, suggest and add your own views and favourite bands/musicians.
I'd like to discover more from this wonderful "mind-expanding" styles.




Edited by avestin - September 07 2009 at 12:41
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 05 2009 at 20:05
Let me continue this by focusing on ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND

http://www.myspace.com/theassembleheadinsunburstsound


Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound biography here in PA:
Westcoast psychedelic prog outfit ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND (AHISS) were formed in San Francisco around a core of three musicians - Jefferson Marshall (guitar, bass), Charlie Saufley (guitar, bass), and Michael Lardas (drums). On their experience in lives and gigs with collaborators including Anderson Lanbridge (theremin, poetry) or Ray Castro (keyboards), in 2005 they could release the first vinyl, as a private press of 500 LPs, stuffed with elements of early Pink Floyd, Amon Duul II, 13th Floor Elevators, or Crazy Horse.

The year 2006 was exactly their milestone - AHISS signed on with a NY indie label Tee Pee Records, and recorded a new album with Tim Green, an extraordinary engineer and producer based in San Francisco. In March 2007, with a great help from Anderson and multi-instrumentalist Camilla Saufley, they made an official debut with the album 'Ekranoplan'

In October 2008, AHISS re-united with Tim Green and entered Green's Louder Studios with Anderson and Camilla as well, and reached out to Brett Constantino and Evan Reese, the guest vocalists of SLEEPY SUN, for graceful and magnificent harmonies of the song 'Two Birds' - in this way, in April 2009 AHISS shot the second effort 'When Sweet Sleep Returned'.



not rated
Ekranoplan
2007

 
4.00 | 1 ratings
When Sweet Sleep Returned
2009




And a review from Damo:


When Sweet Sleep Returned
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by DamoXt7942
Collaborator Psych/Space Team (Jap. Psych Specialist)

— First review of this album —
4 stars Like a big wave, thickened and rushed riffs break into our brain! The sounds smell fragrant like an elegant whisky, not irritating like pure alcohol.

What their brilliant goal or purpose of musical style is, I wonder. They play with splendid, magnified chorus with deep, drowsy, spacey rhythm section and dragged, multiplex guitars and keyboards - and yet pop and melodious flavour should not be lost at all. There is nothing specific to either pop nor space rock but exactly complex flavour like estery and smokey one of a well-matured whisky or wine. Their melody, tune, or tempo is slow, thick, heavy but slender, that reminds us stoner progressive rock (but not metallic). Their chorus is, I feel, like early YES or THE BEACH BOYS, so consequently not only graceful and elegant, but also of deeply trailed atmosphere. Bulldozed and hypnotic repetition of warm sounds can be called exactly as the mixture of an opposition to another.

Two Stage Rocket has theremin sounds by Anderson like an ascending air stream, drifting guitar solo, and steady drum sounds with relax. They can drive psychedelia with leaving some of friendly tune here. Easy to groove to the song - feel wonderful. In Two Birds all vocals can perform perfectly in their chorus with each other, as in the fourth track The Slumbering Ones. Remind us fresh air and cool water - very comfortable but rigidly with heavy and spacey riffs and floating atmosphere by synthesizers. This song is the longest in this album but should not force its length as the other songs be...it's natural and smooth for us listeners. The next song Drunken Leaves is, as the title says, drunken and vertiginous space rock. Around it are heavy noises leadin' to our heartache and palpitation - these achy stuffs cannot exist in pure heavy rock songs. Sticky and slimy repetition by all instruments should outweigh catchy flavour but the pop spice should make us relaxed in the outer ground. Kolob Canyon is a song with real canyon's magnificence, by terrific chorus and strict guitars; we can be struck with the grandeur. Furthermore, here is nothing affected - natural and smooth, as well. A heavy-folk-flavoured song, By The Ripping Green, has more stoner kickin' than other songs. Dreamy dream comes from the laidback guitar solo. As well voice solo can be widely spread. On the contrary, noisy psychedelia with massive attacks by guitars and drums is Clive And The Lyre. Even though here are some repetitions with simple and flat riffs, why can we bubble as such? In the last song End Under Down the flute solo is very graceful and plaintive - heavy guitars or percussion following that should have the same taste. All will get downturn and finished I imagine? But their psychedelic trip will never end?

This album let us feel obscurely cool. Wink.




Edited by avestin - September 05 2009 at 20:06
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 07:56
I might as well give a shout for Hawkwind before someone else jumps in

Or are they considered perhaps a bit mainstream for this thread?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 08:04
No, not mainstream, no problem at all with mentioning Hawkwind, the thread is open to all bands from these styles you'd like to mention and suggest.

The bands I mentioned and listen to currently are newer bands and a lot on that list are leaning towards stoner/heavy-psych rock, but others (Rothbard, Taipuva et al.) are into other types altogether.



Edited by avestin - September 06 2009 at 08:04
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 08:12
Now I'll mention another one from the list in my opening post:

ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD

Andrew Douglas Rothbard biography here in PA
Andrew Douglas ROTHBARD is a US-based musician, currently based in San Francisco. After stints as bassist and keyboardist in the bands VSS and Pleasure Forever (and their precursor Slaves) in the 90's, he decided to start recording solo albums, a planned five-record series outlining the Discordian concept of the Law of Fives: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis, Parenthesis, and Paralysis, each of which represents a different stage of maya.

He started this project in 2003; and so far two of the planned five productions has been released: Abandoned Meander (2006) and Exodusarabesque (2009).






5.00 | 2 ratings
Abandoned Meander
2006

5.00 | 1 ratings
Exodusarabesque
2009



And a review, again, from Damo:

Abandoned Meander
Andrew Douglas Rothbard Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by DamoXt7942
Collaborator Psych/Space Team (Jap. Psych Specialist)

5 stars Wow, lovely!

ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD is a multi-instrumentalist in his inner psychedelia. His "unconcealed" acoustic guitar solo is the basis, with lots of instrumental sounds with special effects or into reverse, and his dimly obscure voices - all sounds and effects are matured with each other and gush out mysterious flavour.

The amazing thing is that all his sounds should be swaying, trembling, rolling and twisting simultaneously together - the sound motion is not only dreamy but also dry & serious. Did he make this work with imagining what? If his brain were in "this" world, he could not paint his psychedelia with some primary colors. However, I guess, he should paint a psychedelic picture as he wanted to, and should check and fix this confusing stuff into the musically theoretical one. His work is, that's why, so strict and melodious, not lazy and freaky, like the title "Abandoned Meander". I wanna say he could produce an amusement park and his sounds are playing leisurely there - on a merry-go-round or a Ferris wheel, not on a roller coaster. :-)

Highly recommended as a psychedelia directly into our brain.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 12:04
God, I LOVE Earthless. If I'm ever in the mood for a good facemelting I can always trust that they'll do the job!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 12:24
I thought Nektar, if it isn't too mainstream for you :D
Trendsetter win!

The search for nonexistent perfection.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 12:33
Originally posted by Jake Kobrin Jake Kobrin wrote:

God, I LOVE Earthless. If I'm ever in the mood for a good facemelting I can always trust that they'll do the job!


Yeah, they're awesome. Their Live At Roadburn is brilliant; lengthy heavy energetic playing, taking a theme, playing with it a while, then going into a new direction. Just bliss.

Originally posted by Blowin Free Blowin Free wrote:

I thought Nektar, if it isn't too mainstream for you :D

No, like I said, mainstream or not is not an issue as long as the band you mention are along the lines of what this thread is about.
Nektar is very good, my wife and I love them, we have 4 of their albums, A Tab.... being our favourite piece, with great soundscaping and atmopshere. Great to "expand your mind" to... Big smile
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 15:18
Can anyone comment on the band SUBARACHNOID SPACE?
General comments on their sound, what albums would you recommend, what album to start with, etc.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 15:31
I didn't see them mentioned yet, so I am going to add Ash Ra Tempel to the list. Their self titled has some of the best space rock I've heard, although Ash Ra Tempel is listed in Krautrock on PA.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 16:13
Originally posted by A Person A Person wrote:

I didn't see them mentioned yet, so I am going to add Ash Ra Tempel to the list. Their self titled has some of the best space rock I've heard, although Ash Ra Tempel is listed in Krautrock on PA.


Indeed a terrific album; I should get Schwingungen and Join Inn as well.


As for my previous post about Subarachnoid Space, I've pre-ordered their new album Eight Bells coming up on Crucial Blast records but I still would like to hear your opinions on their other albums, particularly Endless Renovation, Also Rising and The Red Veil
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 21:13
Since we mentioned EARTHLESS earlier lets focus on them now:

PA bio:
Earthless biography
The psychedelic sound of EARTHLESS from California, San Diego, has two faces; A free improvisational trio in style of early ASH RA TEMPEL and live jammings of CREAM, and a heavy stoner riffings is style of BLACK SABBATH and BUDGIE. This sound is borne from efforts of guitarrist Isaiah Mitchell, bass player Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba. In their free improvisations the rhythm section keeps the time and marks changes of modal themes for the fuzzy guitar doing both cosmic explorations and heavy stoner riff construction works. If you like vintage psychedelia or heavy stoner rock, preferrably both, this group blends these elements in a professional manner.

http://www.myspace.com/earthless




Reviews:

Sonic Prayer
Earthless Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Eetu Pellonpää
Special Collaborator Psychedelic Prog Specialist Team

— First review of this album —
4 stars The first long player of EARTHLESS is opened frankly with drums warming up the hypnotic web soon being veawed by repetitive bass. A chaotic guitar sound wall approachs, and the sound is treated at some points beyond normal guitar sound. After the needed room is reserved with the entry, a powerful stoner rock riff theme is introduced, then followed by truly great acid rock guitar solo. In the second track a short mantra in oriental sounding chords starts to grow as downtuned heavy stoner riff progressions, later evolving again to fine acid guitar solos and closed by reprising the riff themes.

The guitar player Isaiah Mitchell is in my opinion very talented and imaginative solo guitarrist, the professionally performing rhythm section mostly keeps the set together. I think it is an achievement to lead a twenty minutes excluding jam track with solo instrument in an interesting manner. The overall sound of this group is also really pleasant to listen, an association of an expanded treatment of THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's "Driving South" BBC Session track is born in my mind, also live sound of CREAM with less-adventurous rhythm section is another thought as comparison.

So if you like guitar driven heavy psychedelic rock music, where long jams are borne from simple rules and vivid imagination, this record will probably please you. 


Reviews on other websites (some positive, some not...) for Rhythms From A Cosmic Sky:

Ground & Sky - http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=earth-rfacs

Dusted - http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3579

Sea Of Tranquility - http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=5090


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 21:16
I wonder if Can qualifies as space rock, particularly Tago Mago. Halleluwah and Aumgn are amazing.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 21:20
I picked up that Earthless cd on the way to Nearfest this year, was very, very happy with it.  Even though I don't comment alot I do check out all the bands you post avestin..
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 06 2009 at 21:50
Originally posted by Plankowner Plankowner wrote:

I picked up that Earthless cd on the way to Nearfest this year, was very, very happy with it.  Even though I don't comment alot I do check out all the bands you post avestin..


Cheers, David, glad someone finds this useful. Please let me know if you find something in this style that I havent mentioned.



And now a slight shift from previous bands focused on.
Now BLAND BLADEN

Their PA bio:
Bland Bladen biography
Bland Bladen are a psychedelic/space rock band that likes to jam and will appeal to fans of Hidria Spacefolk and Ozric Tentacles.

The following bio is taken from the band's website:
The band started jamming in the autumn of 2001, having their homebase in Malmö. The guitarist (Sebbe) and the keyboard player (Ola) came south from Örebro in 2000-2001 and met the freaks Dave and Kaufmann and started jamming. The band soon found they had quite a magical sound as they all come from very different musical backgrounds, with Dave and Kaufmann playing quite heavy rock or punk and Sabana and Ola playing in a psychedelic blues band. Together they create some very interesting instrumental psychedelic progressive space rock, also inspired by some Swedish folk music.

The band has released a split vinyl LP (only 200 copies made) with a Swedish band called Soviet. In addition, a self released 4 track CD-R was released in 2003 named I Grévens Tid.



http://www.myspace.com/blandbladen






3.52 | 3 ratings
I Grévens Tid
2003



I Grévens Tid
Bland Bladen Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Neo Prog/Psych Teams & Band Submissions

4 stars Very interesting debut by this Swedish outfit, re-released now in 2008.

The music here takes it's cue from the space rock of the 70's, at least in sound and style. A big, fat bass line is the foundation in most segments on the four tunes here, with psychedelic guitar licks and spacey synths improvising on top, spacey synth sounds adding texture and a very 70's electric piano adding melodic themes from time to time. Drums and percussion seems to be the pacesetters.

Sound and style reminds slightly of bands like Hawkwind and Ozric Tentacles, and there's some obvious similarities to Öresund Space Collective too; which isn't a surprise as these two bands have some mutual members.

Recommended for fans of improvisational sounding space jams, in particular those who fancy this style of music with a 70's sound.



I Grévens Tid
Bland Bladen Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Rivertree
Special Collaborator Psych/Space Team & Band Submissions

3 stars Sweden is a country which is really rich on prog and especially psychedelic/space jam acts. Exchanging the musicians at pleasure looks like to be quite normal for some of them. Probably BLAND BLADEN can be titled as a forerunner of the Oresund Space Collective (OSC) which is most likely the bestknown of all. So it's not quite astonishing that all the band members had collaborations with OSC in the past respectively Ola for example plays fender rhodes and synthesizer on the current masterpiece 'Black Tomato'.

This BRAND BLADEN debut from 2003 is consisting of four songs, totally instrumental, and yes, indeed, they can be considered to be in the vein of the OSC sound. Improvised jams with a happy flavour where you can feel their pleasure and fun making music first of all.

The excellent title song I grévens tid appears as my highlight - a nice grooving song with jazzy rhodes piano plus a bluesy part with bubbling synths and sensitive guitar. På Grön Kvist is provided with an intense reggae/dub rhythm near to the sound of Hidria Spacefolk and the following 13 minute track I Afton Trans comes up with two main parts in a different mood, first uptempo busy, later floating and gliding. A heavy rhythm section dominates Dimland later changing to a trippy rocking part with some eastern oriental elements.

'I Grévens Tid' is an enjoyable album and excellent find for progheads who like Hidria Spacefolk or Ozric Tentacles as well as swedish bands jamming along anyway - 3.5 stars.



Edited by avestin - September 06 2009 at 21:50
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2009 at 08:18
Originally posted by avestin avestin wrote:

Originally posted by Jake Kobrin Jake Kobrin wrote:

God, I LOVE Earthless. If I'm ever in the mood for a good facemelting I can always trust that they'll do the job!


Yeah, they're awesome. Their Live At Roadburn is brilliant; lengthy heavy energetic playing, taking a theme, playing with it a while, then going into a new direction. Just bliss.

Originally posted by Blowin Free Blowin Free wrote:

I thought Nektar, if it isn't too mainstream for you :D

No, like I said, mainstream or not is not an issue as long as the band you mention are along the lines of what this thread is about.
Nektar is very good, my wife and I love them, we have 4 of their albums, A Tab.... being our favourite piece, with great soundscaping and atmopshere. Great to "expand your mind" to... Big smile
If I would ever expand my mind to a Nektar song, it owuld definitely be Countenance, It gives me goosebumps EVERY SINGLE TIME I hear it.
Trendsetter win!

The search for nonexistent perfection.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2009 at 08:47
I already made a thread about this band THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND  (which sank so fast, that the PA servers suffered from the vacuum caused while it disappeared), so I'll re-focus on them now and here:

PA BIO:

The Future Kings Of England biography
THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND are a UK based trio comprised of Ian Fitch (guitar, keyboards, effects), Karl Mallett (bass, keyboards, effects) and Simon Green (drums, keyboards, effects). They formed with the intention of making "Head Music" with nods to "Ummagumma" period "PINK FLOYD, VDGG, the "Kraut Rock" greats like "ASH RA TEMPEL" and "TANGERINE DREAM" with a dash of "GY!BE" and "MOGWAI" for good measure.

They're not attempting to rekindle the past, they're just carrying on the grand tradition of style and scale that these bands produced.

: : : Simon Green, UNITED KINGDOME : : :



http://www.thefuturekingsofengland.com/


http://www.myspace.com/thefuturekingsofengland



3 albums to their record, one just now released; all of them are wonderful pieces or old-sounding psychedelic and space rock, instrumental with haunting and magical melodies and atmosphere.



4.92 | 4 ratings
The Future Kings Of England
2005

4.06 | 7 ratings
The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis
2007

3.00 | 1 ratings
The Viewing Point
2009



Some reviews here on PA:

THE FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND Music Reviews


Showing last 10
 The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis by FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND, THE album cover Studio Album, 2007
4.06 | 7 ratings

BUY
The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis
The Future Kings Of England Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by ClemofNazareth
Special Collaborator Prog Folk Researcher

3 stars Here’s a trio of guys who can’t seem to decide if they want to be a post-rock, psych, or Krautrock band, so instead they combine all three. The Future Kings of England may not in fact be future kings, but I like their style. Think a little bit of Godspeed You! Black Emporer (or Explosions in the Sky), throw in an awful lot of ‘Wish You Were Here’-era Pink Floyd, and you pretty much have these guys pegged.

The opening track “Dunwich” is one of those Floydian songs, with lots of slow, building guitar and keyboard drone with a couple of crescendos that make you realize they are actually trying to be innovative, or at least not completely derivative.

“Mustard Man” includes lyrics and sounds a bit like a mellower version of the hard psych band Dead Meadow. I’ve no idea what the song is about – perhaps the weird Canadian dude from the Mustard Man Adventures. And maybe not. I don’t think you’ll hear many psych-like tunes with post-rock overtones and a mandolin though, so you should probably check that out.

With “Bartholomew’s Merman” the band goes back to ‘Wish You Were Here’ on guitar and keyboards, with the exact same sort of slow tempo and lack of concrete focus that made that such a strong album.

And if you ever wondered what a mandolin and banjo sound like on an Explosions album, “Children of the Crown” is the song for you.

Nearly half the album is taken up with the title track though, and this one is a lengthy and sometimes stalled-out affair that seems to be an attempt at a space-rock/experimental epic. It falls just a bit flat due to the unnecessarily long stretch of keyboard noodling, although the trippy keyboard passages are decent enough.

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of anything really powerful or groundbreaking on this album, although like I said earlier the inclusion of mandolin, banjo, some autoharp and even a dulcimer (although I’m not sure where – it’s in the liner notes) make for a departure from more traditional psychedelic music. I will say that these guys seem to have a talent for composition, even if they don’t have much discipline. Maybe with time. I’d say this is about a 3.499 effort, but not quite up to the level of essential, so I’ll go with three stars and hope they stretch themselves a little more next time. Recommended for fans of GY!BE, A Silver Mt. Zion, modern psych, and possibly just the musically curious.

peace




 The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis by FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND, THE album cover Studio Album, 2007
4.06 | 7 ratings

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The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis
The Future Kings Of England Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Neo Prog/Psych Teams & Band Submissions

5 stars The sophomore release of this English band is a fascinating listening experience.

Combining influences from bands like Pink Floyd and Hawkwind like they sounded at the start of their careers with some slight touches from krautrock, highly psychedelic and atmospheric moods are created and explored. The tunes mostly combine mellow sections with an almost minimalistic approach with epic sounding atmospheres, more often than not exploring a mellow theme before suddenly adding elements that in an instant evolves the theme from a lush soundscape into a rich epic sounding soundscape. An additional trait to the music here is a dark and haunting atmosphere throughout, an element setting it apart from most releases in the same category.

Fans of atmospheric, mostly instrumental psychedelic rock as it was made in the early 70's should clearly check this one out. Highly recommended.



 The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis by FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND, THE album cover Studio Album, 2007
4.06 | 7 ratings

BUY
The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis
The Future Kings Of England Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by sinkadotentree
Prog Reviewer

4 stars This one isn't as heavy as their debut was at times,but we still have that post-rock/psychedelic flavour front and center.The PINK FLOYD comparisons are very obvious on this one(i couldn't hear them on their debut) and there is a vocal track as well which is something new.Yes i can say that there is a krautrock connection, especially on Children Of The Crown.This band is from Suffolk, England and there is a theme to this album as all the songs are really stories(fiction) of events that have happened in the past in Suffolk.The cover art is a picture of a harbour at Suffolk called Dunwich.While these songs are mostly instrumental there is an accompanying story with each track. Dunwich is about that harbour, and so we can hear the sounds of sea gulls,waves and a storm during this song.Sea gulls cry out to open before A PINK FLOYD-like soundscape takes over reminding me of the album Wish You Were Here.The organ work is fantastic.A change after 2 1/2 minutes as the tempo picks up and then quickly settles down as mellotron,thunder and sea gulls can be heard.Post- rock style guitars 4 minutes in as the song starts to build to a full sound to end it. Mustard Men is a killer track and the only one with vocals.This is very PINK FLOYD-like,especially the vocal style that reminds me of the Meddle album.The guitar led sections are contrasted with the calmer vocal passages.It's like PINK FLOYD has risen from the dead!Ripping guitar 2 1/2 minutes in as a gale force wind of mellotron comes in.Check out the psychedelic section a minute later.So serene.It's like we're in the late sixties 5 1/2 minutes in.Post-rock guitars a minute later to end it. Bartholomew's Merman sounds like the start of a post-rock tune until the synths come in strongly ala PINK FLOYD.It calms down 2 minutes in as strummed guitar leads the way.Bass comes in.It's building.Full sound after 3 1/2 minutes.It calms right down a minute later to end it. Children Of The Crown sounds like a party with the sounds of people talking.Strummed guitar comes in before we get an eastern flavour.This is definitely krautrock inspired.A baby can be heard laughing 5 minutes in as gentle guitar and organ take over.This is an amazing passage!Drums and post-rock guitars after 7 minutes. A Meeting At The Red Barn is a short instrumental.Sounds like some mandolin or harp in this one as it calms down before 2 minutes. The Fate Of Old Mother Orvis is the 18 minute closing track.The sound slowly builds, and it sounds incredible.Someone is speaking in the background.It turns very psychedelic and eerie after 3 minutes(it's about witches).It changes 5 minutes in as guitar and drums take over and build.A powerful,psychedelic wall of sound is the result.It changes again 12 minutes in to a spacey climate.A guitar/drum melody with banjo comes in and builds. The first one was more difficult to get into but once i did it's still getting better.This one is more accessible and seems to be most peoples favourite.


 The Future Kings Of England by FUTURE KINGS OF ENGLAND, THE album cover Studio Album, 2005
4.92 | 4 ratings

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The Future Kings Of England
The Future Kings Of England Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by sinkadotentree
Prog Reviewer

5 stars This has been my biggest discovery so far in 2008.These guys blend psychedelic,krautrock and post- rock like none i've ever heard before.This is modern sounding instrumental music that creates atmospheric and psychedelic soundscapes.The post-rock flavour is by far the strongest in my opinion.The album cover is very cool as well,especially the back cover. At Long Last... is the one minute intro.They actually took part of King Edward VIII's abdication speech which begins with At long last i am able to say a few words of my own.As he speaks there is a pleasant acoustic guitar melody playing. 10:66 opens with eereie and haunting sounds as drums and guitar come in.Some spoken words after 2 1/2 minutes as the melody stops.It comes back and slowly builds to a heavy duty sound before 5 minutes.This is great! The tempo picks up 6 minutes in although it's still pretty sludgey.The post-rock style guitars are peeling the paint at this point. Humber Doucy Lane opens with a sinister bass line that is slowly picked.You can hear kids playing.Mellotron floods the soundscape as drums and guitar tastefully play.It builds to a wonderful wall of sound.Mellotron stops before 4 minutes.Kids are back playing after 5 minutes to the end of the track.Mellotron comes in wave after wave 7 1/2 minutes in to the end of the song as well. Silent The Invisible Converts opens with lots of aggression but settles down quickly to a gorgeous sound.It starts to build to a heavy sound.It's built! Punishing sound. It starts to calm back down 6 minutes in,but it doesn't last long.Awesome ending. October Moth isn't as heavy as what we were just listening to but it's raw,powerful,beautiful and uplifting.Excellent tune. Lilly Lockwood opens with a guitar sound played slowly over and over.Mellotron comes in as bass,cymbals and guitar play in this pastoral section.Drums and a full sound 1 1/2 minutes in.It stops abruptly a minute later and a new melody arrives.You can hear voices as drums pound and spacey sounds howl.The guitar is playing as well.The sound gets a little dissonant.An uplifting,heavenly sound(including mellotron) arrives 6 1/2 minutes in to end it.Nice. The March Of The Mad Clowns opens with heavy drums that turn into a marching style rhythm.The guitar creates some psychedelic sounds. Pigwhistle is the longest song at 14 minutes.A nice heavy sound becomes quite intense 2 minutes in.It calms right down 2 1/2 minutes in until all we can hear is a bass line and people speaking in the background faintly.This is very atmospheric,dark and haunting as sounds rise and fall.It changes after 8 minutes as the guitar plays gently and drums and mellotron join in.It's building.Amazing sound 11 1/2 minutes in. God Save The King is the short conclusion.It's like they took part of the intro(first song) and processed it heavily making it very psychedelic much like these future kings. The closest reference i think would be GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR with the dark and atmospheric soundscapes they create as well.This album continues to get better with each listen.This is like exploring a new land and finding new things everytime i go back.There are so many amazing passages on this record.I'm in awe.



Edited by avestin - September 07 2009 at 08:48
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 07 2009 at 19:47
Let us turn our attention now to ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE


Oresund Space Collective biography
The Øresund Space Collective was formed in April 2004. The collective is a group of Danish, Swedish and American musicians that get together as often as possible for free form improvised space rock music. The flavour of the music is different with each session. The jams can often combine complex interplay between guitar and synthesizer as well intense drumming and bass playing. We enter into the genre of funk, jazz, reggae and space rock as we improvise our way along. The jam sessions alternate between Malmö and København across the Øresund bridge! The core of the collective features current and former members of the Danish bands Mantric Muse and Gas Giant as well as the Swedish bands Bland Bladen. Occasionally other musicians join as well from other Swedish band like the Carpet Knights and Sgt. Sunshine. Mantric Muse is an all instrumental progressive psychedelic space rock band, who has recorded an CD-EP entitled, Picks in Space and a full length CD, called Kap Næb (currently looking for a label to release it). The band has played concerts in and around København for the last 6 years. Gas Giant are an internationally known heavy psychedelic space rock band, who have toured all over Europe and have released several albums, with the latest called Mana. Bland Bladen, are a progressive instrumental space rock band based in Malmö, Sweden. The band released a debut CD-R in 2004on their own and has played mainly in Sweden but also in København (with Mantric Muse). The collective records all of the jam sessions and makes these available to fans via the web site in MP3 format. We currently have over 20 hours of material on the web site for free download. The band has released 10 limited edition CD's with the best of the jam sessions. The band records in the studio every 6-8 months and plans to release several CDs a year. Our first CD came out in Jan 2006 on Transubstans Records in Malmo, Sweden. The new CD, "It's all about Delay" will be out in October.

Please find legal free concert recordings of ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE from The Internet Archive

Oresund Space Collective official website


http://www.myspace.com/oresundspacecollective







3.57 | 3 ratings
It's All About Delay
2006
not rated
Øresund Space Collective
2006

4.34 | 5 ratings
The Black Tomato
2007
not rated
Inside Your Head
2008

4.00 | 1 ratings
Good Planets Are Hard To Find
2009




Good Planets Are Hard To Find
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Neo Prog/Psych Teams & Band Submissions

— First review of this album —
4 stars This Danish-based multinational collective of galactic travellers are really hitting a stride with this venture.

Not very different in overall scope from their previous official album though; but more maintaining the qualities of that one. Smooth transitions and evolvements is a key feature in these snippets of studio jams assembled into six tracks here; and if memory serves right there are less synths and keyboards involved this time around than on previous occasions. Also worth noting is the raga-inspired sitar that is the key element in the tracks opening and closing this excursion.

Still, a mostly bass and guitar dominated affair embellished with careful use of spacey synths and organ still makes for some trippy space music; where the main negative asset is that the segments where the band seems to be searching for a main direction still get to be a tad lengthy. Once in their stride they are impeccable though; and the last half of final track MTSST must be amongst the strongest material I've heard of this outfit.

If improvised space rock jams sounds like a good thing to you, this is a very good place to start exploring this particular brand of music.



The Black Tomato
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by sinkadotentree
Prog Reviewer

4 stars ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE is based out of Copenhagen and boasts a 9 peice band with members from Denmark,U.S.A. and Sweden.The band themselves describe this album in the liner notes like this: "In some ways,this is our most Krautrock-in-space effort yet but also some of the best heavy grooves we have ever made as well". Considering there are three guitarists,two bass players,a drummer and three guys playing a variety of keyboards and synths you would think it would sound chaotic and too busy.It doesn't though,this is very rhythmic and trippy as they seem to jam endlessly during this 77 minute album. "Rumble" is divided into 5 parts and is over 38 minutes long.Part 1(Faked It All The Way) has a nice heavy sound to it and a great rhythm.The guitar comes ripping in around a minute,a blistering attack. It calms down 6 minutes in as the rhythm stops.Part 2(Consumed By The Goblin) has some spoken words before a minute that are replaced by heavy drums and synths.The guitars start to make some noise.Psychedelic guitars before 9 minutes and then it settles a minute later as it blends into Part 3(OSC Bolero).This part has a beat as it builds to a great sound 4 minutes in as the guitar starts to light it up.Spoken words after 5 minutes as the trippy sound continues.Part 4(Falling Stardrops) trips along in a laid back way.Deep bass,guitar and drums are prominant.Synths come and go.The tempo slows down before 7 1/2 minutes as it blends into part 5(Grab A Cab).Synths wash in before a minute in this spacey conclusion. "The Black Tomato" is divided into three parts and is 32 minutes long.Part 1(Moonhead) quickly builds, leading to a great sound 4 minutes in.Lots of synths.Organ 5 minutes in.It settles as it blends into part 2(Sundown) where it picks back up quickly.I really like the sound 5 1/2 minutes in as the organ rips it up.The guitar is aggressive 8 1/2 minutes in.It calms right down 11 minutes in as it blends into part 3.It's 3 minutes before a fuller sound comes in.Love it! Especially the guitar then organ after 6 minutes.The guitar is on fire after 8 minutes.Amazing sound. "Viking Cleaner" builds from spacey synths to bass,drums and guitar a minute in,to an intense soundscape before 5 minutes. This is an incredible trip that is easily 4 stars.A must for space rock fans.



It's All About Delay
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Rivertree
Special Collaborator Psych/Space Team & Band Submissions

4 stars OSC's creative peak up to now must have been on two inspiring days in 2006 - the 10/11th of March exactly. Scott Heller and his mates went into the Black Tornado Studios in Copenhagen (Denmark) and began to jam without having preconceived ideas as the band claims. Oresund Space Collective is a trademark for instrumental extended improvised grooving Psych/Space music in Europe and especially the scandinavian countries - consisting of prolific musicians coming from USA, Denmark and Sweden who gained experience in several other bands.

More than 5 hours of material was recorded within this two days - absolutely live - no overdubs were made when mixing this up. That's really hard to believe considering the high quality. The later published albums 'Black Tomato' (2007) and 'Inside your head' (2008) are also results of this recordings. 'It's about delay' is sold with a DVD cover and contains two CDs with a total length of nearly 160 minutes. Are they brilliant or boring? Improvisations on a high standard or aimless noodling? Opinions differ on this question. Who is able to get deeper into their musical approach, the spirit and flow, will be really fascinated after a while about their gorgeous interplay.

No instrument is pushed into the foreground distinctly. They are really acting equally, like a collective, exactly as the band name implies. Every musician is soloing all the way but it sounds absolutely flawless and compact. Hard to find another band which is acting in this way. Detecting them in 2007 was a big hit for me. Typical spacey synths are always swirling around Magnus' and Sebastian's never-tiring guitars alternating between solo and rhythm work with lots of echoes and delays. A groovy rhythm with reggae/dub leanings here and there carries away the band into space and time sometimes relaxed and then powerful, dramatic again. And you can explore tracks equipped with the massive use of Hammond organ.

CD 1 is continuously great - both parts of Cirkus Yoda and the groundbreaking Nebula 4747 with ethereal guitar work are the highlights if I ever should mention something like that. CD 2 can hold this standard with the emphasis on more atmospheric dreamy vibes. This one is provided with a 25 minute monster song Jupiter Flyby dedicated to a friend named Doug Walker of the US band 'Alien Planetscapes', who passed away in 2006. Electronic ambient 10 minutes are opening the song but then OSC switches to the wellknown grooving sound with the happy mood, joy of playing and extended Hammond use. The Tony Blair Witch Crocket Project finally is a totally spaced-out tune - excellent guitar skills with krautrock leanings.

I'm in the happy position of never getting tired or bored listening to this music - a wonderful experience and something very special - it takes time to come in but it's worth-while. If you're interested in top-notch spacey psychedelic jamming you shouldn't ignore this - 4.5 stars.



The Black Tomato
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Neo Prog/Psych Teams & Band Submissions

4 stars Copenhagen-based international band Øresund Space Collective have been active since 2004, now and then releasing CDs with some of their favorite jam-sessions exploring space rock.

The Black Tomato is their third release, and on this CD the band take their cues from spaceship Hawkwind. In performance the guitars are the central driving instruments, with guitar patterns evolving from sounds to riff patterns to soloing and then back to fragmented sounds, with mainly two guitars evolving in this pattern, always seeing to it than one guitar maintains a riff-based style while the other is exploring more soloing or spacey sounds. Bass lines and drum patterns are the foundation, while synths flavor the soundscape with melody lines, fragments and sounds.

Hawkwind-like guitars as they played in the early 70's dominate this release, and fans of Hawkwind - especially their live more or less improvised tunes, will love this one.



The Black Tomato
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Rivertree
Special Collaborator Psych/Space Team & Band Submissions

5 stars This Black Tomatoes can only come from outer space for sure ...

I love this album! The band, consisting of 9 astronauts, takes off into space again with exciting grooving jams - presented very relaxed with much easiness and wonderful melodic parts. OSC's concept is consisting of compelling psychedelic twin and triple guitar work, based on an excellent working rhythm section and combined with diversified keyboard stuff - what more can you expect?

OSC is a space crew headed by captain Scott Heller which doesn't line up as a usual band. Changing members is a principle, a method to inspire the band again and again. They have excellent connections to the space/psychedelic scene of scandinavian and even other european countries. So they are inviting wellknown musicians from time to time to participate at their concept especially for delivering live performances. But 'The Black Tomato' this time is the result of studio sessions - recorded on the fly and without any overdubs!

The opening opus RumBle is 38(!) minutes long, devided in 5 parts and provided with russian spoken word poetry. A fantastic trip whereas they are floating from one planet to another - speed-up and periods of rest and weightlessness are alternating whilst OSC is reaping the valuable black tomatoes - this is never boring in any way. Spacey guitars with delay effects, synths but also jazzy elements by electric piano and a funky bass. Even some krautrock contributions similar to Ashra are to remark.

Early enough before they reach the point of no return OSC is inverting with the title song dominated by a decent dub groove. The instruments are stimulating each others joyfully on the way back using the complete range with synths, hammond, fender rhodes and many guitar riffs. With Viking cleaner OSC is hurrying up with a lot of speed to enter the atmosphere of the home planet and finally is gliding weightlessly back to the ground ...

Never thought such a new inspiring thing could be possible - a jewel is coming back directly from outer space with a touchdown in Sweden and now (hopefully) infecting planet earth.

A masterpiece of the space/psychedelic subgenre - an excellent addition to every enhanced prog collection. Congratulations OSC!



It's All About Delay
Oresund Space Collective Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Neo Prog/Psych Teams & Band Submissions

3 stars Psychedelic improvisational space rock jams. That is what this is all about.

And these guys are good at what they do. Musically, the basis of their music sound very similar to the improvised outings bands like Amon Duul II had in the 70s. Swirling modern synths and space rock sounds like the ones made by Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind is then added to that musical basis.

All the jams here have good momentum, and the instrument explorations are always controlled to the extent that each jam always have a musical foundation the exploring instruments explore from. The musical foundation will change several time in each jam of course, but will always be present. Few to no examples here of all musicians here each doing their own explorations at the same time; thankfully.

Still, this is music for specially interested. Well performed, played and planned; but not easily accessible as such - although it is one of the easiest accessible releases in this type of music.




I also saw that they give links to other bands on their website:

Bands

Hawkwind

Ozric Tentacles Official Ozric Tentacles

Gong

Hidria Spacefolk

Dark Sun

Noetics

Porcupine Tree

SEID

WE

Trigon

First Band from Outer Space

Derango





Enjoy




Edited by avestin - September 07 2009 at 19:48
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 08 2009 at 04:13

"Black Tomato" is the definite starting point, that album is soooo good.. Smile

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 10 2009 at 08:42
Now on to EL DIABLO

El Diablo biography
El Diablo is a Mexican band which started playing hardcore, and then some psychedelic rock, they were inspired by bands such as PINK FLOYD,GURU GURU and TANGERINE DREAM to mention a few, they started making improvisations, and most of their early songs are instrumentals, with an obvious GONG influence and psychedelic sound.
In 1999 they met Jose Luis Garnica of Smogless Records, he listened to their Demo, and he decided to record their first album called "El Diablo".
They have made another 2 albums by themselves. They have changed some of their members, there were three bassists in their history.
Their first self-titled album and the only one with a label is great, we can hear some Psychedelic rock and some symphonic passages with some great space effects.
It is a good band, something new in Mexico, definitely recommended for any prog fan. Maybe is not everyone's cup of tea, but give it a chance.

Biography supplied by Guillermo (Memowakeman), edited by Snow Dog.



3.75 | 3 ratings
El Diablo
1999




EL DIABLO Music Reviews


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 El Diablo by DIABLO, EL album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.75 | 3 ratings

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El Diablo
El Diablo Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by acid dadda

3 stars Hi there! This review will be totally biased since I'm (was? dunno, really) El Diablo's drummer... I just want to thank those guys that wrote those nice reviews... Anyway, this album is quite different to the rest of the stuff we recorded throughout the years. El Diablo, truth be told, is a heavy rock/stoner band, with psychedelic overtones... But, you see, since at the very beginnig we were always on drugs, at least ganja, we always kept an open mind, and for a while we got heavily into progrock so we decided to try out some new (for us, anyway) ideas... man, it's been nine years since we recorded this album, so I'm trying to remember why in hell we did this! I guess it had to do with the fact that we thought we were post-modern hippies, so, accordingly, we searched out those old-timers who might have shown some interest in our music. for starters, we wanted to distance ourselves from our heavy metal roots- actually, in case you didn't know (I'm sure you don't, and that's fine!), El Diablo started out as a hardcore/thrash metal band!!!! we used to call ourselves 34-D, and playing that kind of music was actually great fun. someone even put our demo out, in cassette form, in 1994! after some time we got burned out because metallers thought we wer too punk, hardcore/anrachits types thought we were too metal (they hated our super long, alice cooper-like locks...), and both scenes thought we were fast becoming fried-brain hippies... which was true hehe! anyway, the old-timers had to follow their own prejudices and cliqués, so they told us we were too young and too heavy to be a real 70's-worship band, whatever that means! but an old guy with a long white beard and snow instead of hair liked us enough to 'sign' us to his label: smogless records. he's well known in prog circles because he used to put out all kinds of wacky mexican stuff, even some classic re-issues... he liked us because his rocknroll knowledge is so incredibly vast, so he heard some demos and thought we sounded a bit like keith relf's armageddon, mixed with sabbath and blue cheer. that's kinda accurate, but actuatlly we wanted to copy and emulate the edgar broughton band, november AND corrosion of conformity... so we payed for some studio time and recorded the album. called some friends for help and smoked so much that towards the end we really didn't know what we were doing. our ego grew so badly we thought we had actually made an album of pink floyd proportions. but the guy at the mixing board didn't help matters any: he was so stoned he kept on rearranging levels and stuff, so when we heard the final mix, in the comfort of our own homes, we noticed that Ivan's guitar had been buried, that the third song (purusha) had sped up (and the original, correct version is nowhere to be found), and that the keys became discreet, laughing mice, if that makes any sense (ok- they were VERY low). we wanted to fix things, but we were out of money, and the mixing guy was out of town, so we were [%*!#]ed... later on we remastered it, but the new overall level went overboard because the master-guy was also incredibly stoned! first he was all serious and snobby, claiming he hated heavy metal and all that jazz. actyally, he's the former guitar player of a 'classic' Mexican RIO band: the high fidelity orchestra. so much for his principles: a few hours later he had all his hair in his face, and he was standing there headbanging on repeat to captain obeatleration hahahaha! ... so smogless put the record out and maybe sold, after a few years, its 1,000 copies pressing. or maybe not... we played a few times, recorded some more stuff (my all time favorite is our live record- it's way heavier, the songlist is completely different, it features a couple of studi tracks off our first demo- recorded in '97 - and sounds pretty good for a sony blank cassette that I found below the driver's seat of my car about 10 minutes before the worm, I mean, before the show) and we sort of went into hibernation in 2002 or '03... man, nobodu cared about us, so it was really depressing, plus we were all bankrupt and in our early thirties... but that's it. now a quick rundown: huautla - nice song, nice flute work, nice out of tune and badly played but lovable citar. this is actually an ode to a magical place way up in the mountains, somewhere in southern mexico. the people are nice, they're all indians and hardly speak spanish, sadly they're all very poor, but the mushrooms are great. so it's great to go visit at least once a year... mindbender - we used to jam to the main riff life or at rehearsals, just to warm up. it's obviously influenced by the floyd (echoes), and maybe quatermass... purusha - this song I truly hate. well, the real, slow version is pretty nice, all hippy-dippy, but at this speed it actually sounds like bad troll-rock. I wanted yo include lyrics, but i came up with some real corny stuff about Indian mythology and meditation.... captain obeatleration - heavy and more akin to El Diablo's real sound. it's fast, except for the middle santana-like part. actually inspired by armageddon and motorhead. tod you we were metal heads... my fave track oof the album, by the way.... equus - it drags on forever and it bores me to death. haven't heard it in years, and probably won't hear it again till my dying day. we wanted to be deep purple or something, but the guitar's low volume doesn't help one bit. avoid at all costs!!! rumanian blues - a nice acoustic piece, the sound tripped out with some effects. actually, Victor, our bassist wrote the damn song and played on it! in my opinon, Victor should release a solo album featuring stuff similar to this. i know i would take it with me to huautla... nosehablemás- we wanted to be a heavy metal Gong/Zappa. it's funny and not so terrible, but sadly, badly played. my drum playing here sucks and it makes me blush... Ok, I'll give it three stars... thanks for reading! rock on... Fernando Benpitez/El Diablo



 El Diablo by DIABLO, EL album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.75 | 3 ratings

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El Diablo
El Diablo Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Italian Prog Specialist

4 stars In my will of promote Mexican bands, this time i will talk about El Diablo.

This band is not so known around the world, not even here in Mexico, they recorded their first and only album (self-titled by the way) in 1999, before that, they had some line up changes and a blend of various genres such as metal, psychedelic and rock. Like other 90`s bands they have been influenced by Pink Floyd, Gong and Guru Guru among others, in this album we can appreciate some of that influenced sound. Categorized as a psychedelic space rock band, i think that`s where they belong, with hints of jazz and experimentations were placed in this album, so here i go with the songs.

"Huautla" is the first song, a great song which show us the quality of the musicians, besides the members of El Diablo, here we can find guest musicians, for example in this song Alejandro Otaola (guitarist of Santa Sabina, an excellent mexican band) plays the sitar, sitar is not so frequent in progressive rock, here it makes the song more special and with a unique sound, progressiveness through the song.

"A Mind Bender" is a long song, characterized for that soft but great guitar sound Ivan Nieblas who is/was the leader of the band makes a great work playing the guitar and also the bass in the next song. This song is almost always the same rythm, bass sound reminds me of the swcond part of Pink Floyd`s Echoes, also here we can enjoy the psychedelic passages.

"Purusha" starts with that mentioned bass sound making the rythm of the song,it is not the best song of the album, maybe a little repetitive, with it`s slow tempo moments, but nothing of another world, drums are always great.

"Capitan Obeatleration", a weird name, i dont know if it has something relationed with The Beatles, at least the music is so different, it shows us from the start a psychedelic oriented band, strong guitar riffs, this song is great, a clear example of "modern" psychedelia,another almost 10 minute song, with this song louder your mind will fly!.

"Womoon" is another of that slow songs, which are envolving you, slow tempo song, the first and only with vocals, also here we can find a very nice flute sound, the guitar chords are always the same, but it makes it great, it is not necessary to change, i like this song a lot.

"Equus" wow, an excellent song, the highest point maybe, it is the largest over 11 minutes, again with that great guitar through the song, in fact it doenst have mood changes or time changes etc, but that 11 fast minutes of great guitar and armony makes your mind blowing , i really enjoy it, it freaks me out.

"Rumanian Blues" show us that space and cosmic sound, not as clear as Hawkwind for example, also this song is again slow tempo, experimentation , but with a similar style all the song, this time the acoustic guitar took the show.

"Samelbaheson" is the last song of this great album, and of course it couldnt get behind, it is another great song, but this time with a great change, it starts again with that exquisite sitar sound togehter with a voice over nowhere, which is reminiscent to some indian music, but suddenly El Diablo returns, again with that superb guitar with faster tempo, bass and drums like always great, also the flute appears here with an acid sound.

I really love this album, it doesnt have weak moments, this makes me think about give to it 5 stars, but im doubting, so after all i highly recommend this album, a great exponent of Mexican prog, and 4.5 stars really, because it is not a masterpiece, but it could be of course a great addition to any prog lover.




 El Diablo by DIABLO, EL album cover Studio Album, 1999
3.75 | 3 ratings

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El Diablo
El Diablo Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by progadicto

4 stars At last! One of my favourites mexican bands of the last years. EL DIABLO is a mixture of variuos styles such as prog, heavy rock, ethnical mexican rhythms arabic and even some jazz but all songs are immerse in lots of psychedelic.

Some songs to remember: "Huautla": Excellent intro piece with a slow rhythm full of references to the 70's psychedelic. "Purusha": Interesting composition inffkluenced by some Ravi Shankar style and great work on flute. "Captain Obeatleration": The happiest song of the disc. A powerful and repetitive guitar riff leads the rhythm of that song that remembers a hard acid journey. "Samelbaheson": Another song full of ethnical inffluences. Totally beautifull and well arranged.

Pay attention to this band, really. They are full of beautiful arrangements, specially on winds and percussion. For those who likes experimetal and psychdelic this album will sound very good...


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