BEHIND THE SUN

'Behind the Sun' was released in 2014 and was another of many Motorphsycho albums. This album had an interesting thing about the vinyl version. It was a double album, but the music from the album fit on 3 sides. On the A side of the album, it is noted that there is an etching, but there is also a double etched track that features 2 instrumental songs. The song that plays is determined by where the record needle is put down on the track. Both of these songs are about the same length, nearing 4 minutes long and neither one of them is available on the CD or download versions of the album, only on the vinyl. Unfortunately, I have not heard them because I don't own the vinyl. But it's a neat little hidden surprise for those that do.

This is one of Motorpsycho's more progressive albums. You will swear, with the classic vibe that runs through this album, that you have been transported back to the heyday of progressive rock, namely, the 70's. You get a heavy dose of stoner, psychedelic, progressive amazing-ness,

'Cloudwalker (A Darker Blue)' starts off the album, officially that is. Right away you notice the tricky rhythm and the nice progressive sound. The melody is reminiscent of 70's style progressive rock and it grabs your attention right away. There is great guitar, and the mellotron sticks out quite well during the instrumental break, and there is a nice acoustic, folksy feel during this time, but otherwise it is a fairly heavy, yet the rhythm is not your standard meter, and that makes it all an excellent sound.

'Ghost' comes next. Like the last track, it lasts a little over 6 minutes, and has lead vocals from Bent Saether, who has the mellower voice of the 2 lead singers. This one starts off on a more acoustic and slower tempo, and the mellotron comes in early, giving this a classic and amazing sound. The vocals have a softer edge with the right amount of vulnerability to them. Very pensive and nice. The 2nd verse adds some effects to the vocals and some other interesting accompaniment that gives it that psychedelic feel that will make you think you are listening to an awesome band from an earlier decade that for some reason you completely missed. Beautifully done.

'On a Plate' is a more hard rock oriented sound, but still retains a tricky guitar riff keeping things progressive. Hans Ryan has the lead on this, and his vocals are gruffer and fit the feel of the harder tracks. This one features a great guitar solo over the top of another guitar doing this amazing hard riff. It also has a great psychedelic vibe underlying everything. 'The Promise' carries forward with the same general feel, but there is some alternating acoustic and electric riffs. This one is also more complex sounding than the last, but still just as great. Again, there is another kickin' guitar solo in the middle.

'Kvaestor [incl. Where Greyhounds Dare]' has a complex beginning with crazy drums, a fairly basic guitar riff against a repeating background that all somehow fits together nicely. The guitars get a bit crazy and chaotic as they take charge of this instrumental. Things pull themselves back into order as the double guitar riff re-establishes itself. When everything breaks down, there is a lot of feedback against wild drumming. Things go psychedelic for a minute, then the music kicks around a bit with it's wild meter before returning to the riff again, this time with more improvisation involved before a dose of more psychedelia tears the track apart. This is 7 minutes that goes by way to quickly.

'Hell Pts 4 ' 6: Traitor/The Tapestry/Swiss Cheese Mountain' countinues the multi suite that started on the previous album 'Still Life With Eggplant'. Starting with a mid tempo beat and a nice mellow, folk sound, you would think you were almost listening to Paul Simon at times, except for that excellent multi-electric guitar interlude after the 2nd verse. After a while, it changes to an ambient, somewhat subdued, acoustic guitar with some mellotron added in for atmosphere. The ambience lasts for a lot longer than you expect, but it gives everything a nice, peaceful setting. Then it starts to build at about the 7:30 mark that leads to more vocals in a folk setting, then a sudden interruption as everything suddenly breaks loose. This section of the suite has a slight lilt to it that still give a folk feeling, but at a more intense and intense level. Somewhere after 11 minutes, vocals start again, but at a much more intense level than before and some great harmonies. Things end rather quickly after the 12 minute mark.

'Entropy' starts with a strummed acoustic guitar and bass. Vocals start, almost reminding one of the early songs of Dewey Bunnell of 'America', just less poppy and more progressive, but seriously, it sounds a lot like him. Just before 4 minutes, electric guitars take on another great solo. After this, things calm down again for another vocal section, then grow more intense again. I can't believe how fast these songs fly by even when they exceed 7 minutes like this one. This album is just full of stellar performances and amazing tracks.

'The Magic and The Wonder (A Love Theme)' is surprisingly heavy, not what you would expect from this title. Again, we get another complex song with some excellent harmonics and more tricky rhythms. This is a shorter track at just over 4 minutes, but it's still quite excellent and progressive.

'Hell Pt. 7: Victim of Rock' starts off very chaotic with everything coming at you full bore and stays that way for over 7 minutes of run time. Even the vocals, when they start, sound quite unhinged. It remains quite unrelentless throughout with a wall of noise. It suddenly goes into a more processed sound with some very strange effects when the vocals reappear. It is almost if they pulled out all of the stops for the last track.

This is Motorpsycho at their best, with an album full of top quality progressive rock. Every track here is amazing, this album has no filler, just some of the best hard, progressive music. Motorpsycho has explored many genres in their time together as a band, sometimes they get everything right, and sometimes they miss the mark, but on this album, they hit it right square on the nose. If you are wondering where to start with this band, this is the place. I tell you, this one will impress you. 5 stars!