THE ALL IS ONE

Well, the last of Motorpsycho's Gullvåg trilogy comes about in 2020's string of excellent prog rock releases, from Wobbler's Dwellers Of The Deep, to Haken's (badly timed) Virus. I gotta say, even in the wake of some amazing releases from that year, Motorpsycho managed to excel greatly with this album, to the point where it ended off their trilogy with a bang, and dare I say set a standard for future releases the band goes about.

I heard a reviewer by the name of Notes Review describe this record as 3 albums in one, and I'd actually agree with that statement, though I think it is actually 2 EPs and 1 album rolled into one complete package, kinda like how Angels And Daemons At Play did its album structure, but here it feels a bit more of a conceptual idea, rather than a release structure idea. However, what is found here on each half of this record is some fantastic prog rock. The first four tracks of The All Is One, The Same Old Rock, The Magpie, and Delusion are a lot more psychedelic in tone and structure, similar to their stuff from the 2000s, but with a lot more polish that I really enjoy. I love the arrangements and jams they express with these songs, with each having these nuggets of great moments that just makes me eat these songs up. My favorite has to be Magpie, especially that intro that starts quiet then bursts into this very wild and fun jam that I really love, and gives me some serious Hawkwind vibes, and it just goes off from there in a magnificent montage of sound. All of these tracks are great, and I think showcase a level of brilliance within the band that they've been hitting ever since Little Lucid Moments.

Now, for the half that is like a full album, and that is the N.O.X. suite. Oh boy do I just love this song. Each of the Gullvåg trilogy has these songs that I just can't get enough of. Ship Of Fools from The Tower, Psychotzar from The Crucible, and here, in The All Is One, it is the entirety of this 40+ minute jam. Where the first half of this record was a lot more rooted in psych rock, this is the band taking what worked from The Death Defying Unicorn, and making it entirely new with a higher focus on jamming and space rock inflections. There are several things I can talk about in this one song. For starters I just love the build and drive this song has and goes through. The momentum never quite stops, and, while on occasion it does slow down, it always rises back up in inventive ways, so that it never becomes boring. It is like a range of mountains, as each moment you climb and fall then climb again, and I think this mountainous journey represents this giant suite of music quite amazingly. I also just love the second half of this with the parts of Night Of Pan and Circles Around The Sun Part 2. Night Of Pan is this rising shift in sound and energy throughout 15 minutes, and it is honestly quite grueling, but in a way that it just works out in the band's favor, because afterwards you just get punched in the gut with Circles Around The Sun Part 2, which I think is one of the best endings in any Motorpsycho epic, reprising the first part, and just creating this wild, freakshow session that caps this whole thing off so masterfully in my opinion. Lastly, what I love about this suite is that in the last part, the lyrics make mention of The Tower, the first part in the Gullvåg trilogy, and that reference honestly just heightens this song's enjoyment for me ten fold. Just those little things can make an already amazing song into a legendary one. I think if there is one reason why you should listen to this record, it is definitely N.O.X. as it is such a great song of prog rock proportions.

The last half is similar to the first, with songs taking a psychedelic twist in the prog sphere, but I do notice that half of them are a bit more quiet compared to the first four songs, which I think gives it a unique flavor. Pretty much what my praises for the first half can be directly attributed to here as well.

It must be really hard to be Motorpsycho and never miss when you make prog rock. Not only have they made a very inventive string of albums that are all masterpieces, but set an example of how to effectively, and masterfully combine psychedelic and space rock structures and jams to your progressive rock music that, on a few occasions, I'd say put Pink Floyd or Nektar or Hawkwind to shame. You know the drill, listen to The All Is One as it is a fantastic album in every which way.