HEAVY METAL FRUIT

After the release and recording for the band's more alternative oriented anniversary album, Motorpsycho gets back on track with more progressive rock music. This time around, they sort of shift back a bit to a more heavier, grungy sound that originated from their first three records, specifically Demon Box. Unlike those days, they have improved on their songwriting and playing techniques considerably over the past 19-20 years, and so we get one of their heavier, but still masterfully created albums yet.

Take this what you will, imagine if the stoner rock/metal of Sleep's Dopesmoker merged with the neo- psychedelic jams of Thee Oh Sees, plus a sprinkling of the space infused atmospheres composed by SBB, and a topping of the heavy psych movements of Hawkwind, and you get yourself Heavy Metal Fruit, as this is, in my mind, one of Motorpsycho's finest works. Each song on here is played to a very masterful degree of expertise, ranging from slow, stoner jams, to more fast paced songs that make me want to come back for more. I find that each song takes its sweet time in composing and playing, so that by the end, you feel like you've been on an amazing journey of sorts, and I absolutely love that kind of stuff in my progressive rock records.

I just absolutely love the heavier direction this album composes. The band was right when they named this album 'Heavy Metal Fruit', as this album just screams super well made heavy psych prog that can rival some of the best jam bands. I especially love the first two songs of Starhammer and X-3 (Knuckleheads in Space). Starhammer is just this big, 12 minute extravaganza of stoner metal jams that never gets boring in the slightest. Just the amount they work with in that song is crazy, and it only solidifies the band's immaculate image in my eyes.

X-3 (Knucklesheads in Space) is also another really great song on here. Just how it weaves through these super shimmering space rock jam sessions, to these almost laid back guitar and trumpet movements that contain more ambience than a Brian Eno song, and how it ends by swelling up with these weird, almost Echoes-like sounds that transition into the next song of The Bomb-Proof Roll and Beyond just leaves a lasting impression on me.

I think it would also be criminal not to talk about the 20 minute epic of Gullible's Travails. This era of Motorpsycho, the band has really started amping up on their epics, and they, so far, have been some of the best parts of the albums they are in. Just how each part carefully weaves through these magical, psychedelic, and very space heavy progressions, with build ups and playing styles that could rival the likes of Uriah Heep, Amon Duul II, and Elder, and an otherworldly momentum of beauty towards the end, it all composes to a song worthy of being called a prog rock epic. I absolutely love it, and it is by far one of the band's best works of music.

This album is not only a masterpiece of progressive rock standards, but the 3rd masterpiece the band put out in their long careers as legendary musicians. This album is an essential record that deserves any and all love it can get. I have bit into the heavy metal fruit, and I am loving the sweet taste of it.