2018 is the year where we make an obscene amount of references to Kyuss. Which is not a bad thing! It just means that bands are FINALLY catching up to what the progenitors of modern desert rawk were all about. Case in point is the UK’s Psychlona who, despite a few similarities to the iconic Californian quartet, still stand on their own two feet with their latest offering Mojo Rising.
“Stone” begins the monolith and is, quite simply, the most laid back yet heaviest groove you’ll find on a psych rawk release this year. Martyn Birchall and Scott Frankling own the rhythm here with their bass and drum performances respectively. But what about the guitars? Well, Dave Wainfor and Phil Hey have you covered switching between fuzzed out riffs and licks that scream to the heavens on this and throughout Mojo Rising.
“Ride” scorches with thunderous pummeling from Frankling and some stellar shredding that brings to mind Blues for the Red Sun. Then “Down In The Valley” comes at listeners as a standard desert rawk/fuzzed out psych rocker but goes off into this otherworldly jam, breaking the six and a half minute ditty in half nicely with Hey adding some Scott Hill-vibes in the vocal department mixed with Matt Pike gruff at times.
“Juju” is reminiscent of the early Queens of the Stone Age recordings…and we ain’t talking about the self-titled or Rated R! We’re goin’ old school EP/split here! It’s lo-fi with an intent to immediately grab your attention while “Black Dog” vibrantly hums with Hey offering a sermon before going off the beaten path with howls and cowbells that lead to a rollicking riff fest of guitar shredding and sick solos.
“Beakfoot” is where it’s at, though, almost immediately exploding from your speakers/headphones with a barely contained electric fury that gives way to a sonic journey unlike any other as Birchall’s bass reverberates until eventually devolving into an all out jam which has the band uniting for a heavy ass barrage of sound to close out the album.
Mojo Rising, ahem, rises for a proper release on November 9th via Ripple Music who will be handling digital and CD products while Cursed Tongue Records has your vinyl needs. You can get an earful for yourself by clicking here and here for some pre-order options. And for the latest on Psychlona, head over here.