KANAAN

4.5 stars. KANAAN are a young trio out of Norway who have been very active both live and in the studio since 2018. Seven studio albums since then plus a live one, "Downpour" is studio album number six from 2023. These guys sound like a mix of HAWKWIND, BUSHMAN'S REVENGE and HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO but with heaps of fuzz and distortion added. And speaking of Hedvig Mollestad, she plays on that second track "Amazon" where we get the highlight of the album when her and Ask Vatn Strom KANAAN's exceptional guitarist battle it out. Fireworks galore.

These guys are players, the guitarist especially but that drummer reminds me of Hedvig's guy Ivar while the bass player adds a lot of spacey synths, noises and even harmonium but man his bass is fuzzed out. The opener "Black Time Fuzz" is well named, I mean the distortion is incredible both with the bass and guitar. Spacey synths too and they do mix it up. "Amazon" is a top three and Hedvig helps with that. Again fuzzed out and heavy music that here is catchy and mid- paced. This song flows so beautifully.

Another top three is the title track "Downpour". It's just not as heavy and is uplifting at times and also we get a light show from that guitar. Repeated themes too. Check out what seems like a climax before 6 minutes only to be followed by this onslaught. "Orbit" doesn't make my top three but it's right there. A nice heavy groove fuzzed out of course. But that early sound that is trippy and bass driven actually brought SOFT MACHINE to mind. Guitar is ripping it up after 5 minutes. "Solaris Pt.1" is my final top three. Gorgeous guitar leads in a spacey atmosphere. They do amp it up around 5 1/2 minutes but I just love the sound of this one before the heaviness and distortion hits. More of that heaviness on the closer "Solaris Pt.2".

I'm so into this record and I feel like if they ease off on the heaviness and distortion they will only get better. But that certainly appeals to the stoner rock fans out there.