TUBE ALLOYS

Wow! This new Swedish heavy prog rock band just totally blew me away. This is a trio consisting of keyboardist/vocalist Fredrik Andersson, bassist Linus Karlsson, and drummer Wiktor Nyden. This group has a "no guitar" policy, so unsurprisingly Quatermass will be one band that will come to mind. ELP, Atomic Rooster, a bit of Bo Hansson and even occasionally Italian prog springs to mind. Hammond organ is by far the most dominant keyboard used, and Fredrik Andersson plays it like there's no tomorrow. Lots of in-your-face intensity certainly to blow your mind. It sounds so much like a lost recording from the early '70s that you can't tell this was actually recorded in 2017 (released the following year). It's funny that while these guys aren't exactly bringing anything new to the table, they still sound like a total breath of fresh air. This is especially when so much modern-day prog really disappointed me big time, usually because they're overlong and way overstay their welcome on a CD full of nearly 80 minutes of music. Not with these guys! It's clear these guys are totally enjoying themselves. That "no guitar" policy only proves, as Quatermass or Rare Bird (their first two albums only) had proved all those years ago, that great music can be had without a guitar. Blå Lotus is simply the new generation of it. Really worth it.

As soon as I started playing this I was taken back more than 20 years to two albums released on the long-lost Ad Perpetuam Memoriam label by a band called Death Organ. Led by keyboardist Per Wiberg (Opeth, Spiritual Beggars), their music was a strange mix of death metal and prog, and notably contained no guitars. I wonder if these guys have come across them, as yet again we have a band producing heavy music, with no guitars involved. Actually, their motto is, "No six-strings allowed," and they create a soundscape equipped with just bass, drums and Hammond organ and a vast array of lengthy jam-based compositions interspersed with heavy stoner-like riffs.

The trio of Fredrik Andersson (Hammond and Farfisa Organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, electric piano, flute and vocals), Linus Karlsson (bass, Theremin, sound effects) and Wiktor Nydén (drums) have taken Atomic Rooster as a starting point and have then moved on from there. I was fortunate enough to see Vincent Crane, John Du Cann and Paul Hammond (all three now sadly deceased) some 35 years ago, and the power they were putting out onstage, without a bass, was quite incredible, and here Blå Lotus are doing the same without guitar. With a very heavy use of Hammond, their sound is strongly rooted in the early Seventies, and they move between extended instrumentals and vocals with ease. That this is a great album is never in doubt, and it is incredible to think that they came together in Autumn of 2016, and recorded this album in April the following year, as they sound as if they have been bouncing ideas off each other for years. Now if only Per Wiberg would reform Death Angel, and the two bands went out on the road together, that would be something well worth seeing. If you have ever enjoyed the sound of a Hammond Organ in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, then this is essential.