THE TREE THAT BEARS THE EQUINE FRUIT

Anta are a psych/space band from the UK. This is their first album. The instruments include guitar, bass, drums, organ and synth. The organ and bass are what stand out the most. The music is generally slow-paced and heavy. This sounds like a combination of '70s metal and space rock with modern 'stoner rock'. The music is entirely instrumental. The sound is very loud and gives me a headache if I listen to it on headphones at a reasonable volume.

"Abyssal Ibis" opens with the sound of a gong being hit. Later on the band joins in. The organ and bass stand out. Most of the song revolves around what the organ is playing. Over halfway changes to a repeated melodic organ figure. This part is nice and stays until the end of the song. "Needling Seamaw" starts out focused on an organ playing in 7/8(I think). Then more attention to the guitar and bass. Later the organ reminds me of the hypnotic electric piano in Soft Machine's "The Soft Weed Factor". Some spacey feedback noise just before the middle. Organ changes a lot but bass and drums mostly stay the same. Goes back and forth with loud/soft dynamics.

"Firn" is, in contrast to the first two songs, more mellow and atmospheric. This song is more about texture than riffs. Basically various feedback type sounds. No drums. Some piano later on. "Abtenauer Oak" is more atmospheric, spacey sounds. Some organ and gong here. "Apical Dominance" gets back to the slow paced heavy rock. Again the organ stands out. I think a part of this is reprised from one of the first two songs. Nice synth playing in this song.

All the songs segue together, creating a long piece of music. Not sure if you call this 'retro- prog' or not, but it is good music. But not great. I'm sure fans of modern space bands will like this. The bass most of the time has the same distorted sound which gets annoying after awhile. The guitar doesn't really stand out much. Overall, a decent effort. 3 stars.