Reviews – Page 91 – 7th Level Music

The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum

The Besnard Lakes’ (Jace Lasek – guitar and vocals, Olga Goreas – bass and vocals, Sheen Ko – keyboards, Robbie MacArthur – guitar, Kevin Laing – drums) last record, Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO, is one of the most beautiful records of 2013. Their new album, A Coliseum Complex Museum, is already running high on my list for the most beautiful album of 2016. It’s lush with Beach Boys-style harmonies, smooth bass, epic drumming, and guitars that float throughout it like warm desert winds caressing a red rock formation.

“The Bray Road Beast” is the album’s opener. It immediately tosses you into their smooth lake of shimmering psychedelia. The first single, “Golden Lion,” chugs along like a Grateful Dead track until it blossoms into a glorious bit of arena rock. “You are the golden lion.” is the chorus. The Besnard Lakes want us to know we are majestic and strong (much like the guitar solo on the track).

“All the pressure of our plans together make our hearts turn to shades of gold,” claim the Besnard Lakes in “Pressure of Our Plans” – a stunning love song with dual male-female vocals and levitation-inducing synthesizers. The vocals on “Towers Sent Her to Sheets of Sound” almost get lost behind the drums at first, but kick in with lovely precision just when you think the track is going to be menacing. The bass work on it is superb as well, rolling you along as smooth as a skateboard.

I’m still not sure what “The Plain Moon” is about, but I do know it has the biggest bass and drums on the record. It’s like a thunderstorm you hear miles away on a summer night. The male-female vocal harmonies on it are superb. I know that “Necronomicon” refers to the fabled Book of the Dead (popularized by the Evil Dead movies), but the song is far too pretty to raise any Elder Gods from Stygian depths. I also know what a “Nightingale” is, and that the song named such is a bit sinister (although the bass line in it is almost a blues walk).

The closer is “Tungsten 4 – The Refugee.” The guitar work throughout it is quite good (The end solo is killer.), and the track sounds like a Tom Petty song if Tom Petty’s main influence had been Roky Erickson instead of Bob Dylan.

This is a gorgeous album. Wander through its complexity like a museum, and lose yourself in the coliseum-sized sound of it. The Besnard Lakes will soon embark on a tour of the UK and Europe. I hope they’ll be back to North America in time to play Levitation Austin this year.

Keep your mind open.

All Them Witches – Dying Surfer Meets His Maker

A friend of mine introduced me to All Them Witches (Ben McLeod – guitar, Michael Parks, Jr. – bass, vocals, guitar, Robby Staebler – drums, Allan Van Cleave – keyboards, violin) when she sent me their 2014 album Lightning at the Door and said, “I think you’ll like these guys.” I’m not sure if she thought I’d like them because their name involved witches and she figured that would go along with my love of old horror movies or if their psychedelic desert rock would intrigue me. She was right on both accounts.

Their new album, the intriguingly titled Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, rises and ebbs like waves and can easily lull you into some sort of trance. The opener, “Call Me Star,” builds to an almost menacing drone and slips right into “El Centro,” which is over eight minutes of psychedelic greatness. McLeod pulls in riffs that could’ve been used in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune movie if it had ever been made. Van Cleave’s synths add a touch of weird playfulness that is somewhat disturbing (in a good way), Parks’ bass sounds like a ghost, and Staebler beats his kit like it will power a rocket launch.

“Dirt Preachers” is the first single off the record. It starts with a weird bass dirge and then moves out at a pace best suited for late night high speed driving. It has a great Led Zeppelin-like breakdown in the middle that is outstanding. “This Is Where It Falls Apart” might be about a relationship. The blues harmonica, sad drums, and distant vocals seem to relate that something is coming to an end, but it may be the end of this reality for all I know. The track is like a half-awake dream.

“Mellowing” lives up to its title, and McLeod’s work on it is excellent. Van Cleave is all over “Open Passageways” with spooky synths and even better violin work that makes the track sound like something you’d hear on a Scottish moor just before a banshee steps out of a tree next to you. “Instrumental 2 (Welcome to the Caveman Future)” would be great for a live-action Thundarr the Barbarian movie considering the title and how it drifts from thudding rock to mystical tones. “Talisman” sounds like a mix of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The closer is “Blood and Sand / Milk and Endless Waters.” I have a feeling the first half is war-themed, with the second half being the images seen by a wounded or dying soldier on a stormed beach. It’s definitely trippy enough for that.

This is a great way to start off your psychedelic music collection for 2016. All Them Witches are about to take off on a tour of Europe for the spring. Catch them if you can. They’ve moved up high on my list.

Keep your mind open.

Motorhead – Bad Magic

Motorhead’s excellent, final, and much-needed new album, Bad Magic, opens with Lemmy Kilmister yelling “Victory or die!” It’s tempting to feel weird or sad upon hearing this, knowing Lemmy will never grace us with his gravely growl again, but after this the album proceeds to take off and blast you back into your chair. I imagine it isn’t much different than being the passenger in a nitro-burning funny car tearing off the line. You don’t have time to be morose.

“Thunder & Lightning” needs to be on the soundtrack of the next Mad Max movie because it sounds like something that would blare from the cassette deck of a War Boy’s car. Phil Campbell’s guitar seamlessly blends metal shredding with punk rock chugging. “Fire Storm Hotel” sounds like it could’ve been recorded twenty years ago, as the band has lost nothing in all this time. Kilmister’s bass groove on it is particularly good.

“Shoot Out All of Your Lights” reminds you that Mikkey Dee is one of the best drummers alive. I’m sure Dave Grohl considered breaking his drumsticks upon hearing it because Master Mikkey schools every rock drummer alive on this track.

Want some doom in your metal? Don’t worry, because Motorhead brings you “The Devil,” and I have to wonder if Campbell got the riff from the gentleman named in it because it is so damn good. “Electricity” and “Evil Eye” are two rockers under three minutes long and remind us of Motorhead’s craftsmanship. You come in, you do the job well, and you get out.

“Teach Them How to Bleed” could be Motorhead’s battle cry to all the pretenders trying to take the metal crown from them. Campbell’s guitar work on it sounds like he had a blast laying down the riffs and they are some of the most sizzling on the whole record. It’s so scalding that the slow build of the next track, “Till the End,” is a bit jarring. Kilmister sings on this rock ballad that he’s the “last one you can trust until the end.” I believe him. Did he or Motorhead ever let us down? In fact, the next track is called “Tell Me Who to Kill,” so Motorhead again went above and beyond the call of duty for us. Kilmister’s bass on this is both powerful and menacing, just as you want it to be.

“Choking on Your Screams” is the creepiest track on the record. Kilmister sounds like he’s singing from a dark pit, Campbell plays like he’s heralding the arrival of an elder god, and Dee’s beats are like machine gun fire from the shoulders of a giant robot smashing London. “We are your masters. We feel no remorse. You have no chance against us,” Kilmister sings. Again, are you listening metal-wannabe bands?

The band ventures a bit into arena rock with “When the Sky Comes Looking for You,” but I’m not sure an arena could hold this track as it soars high on Campbell’s guitar and then pounds you with some of Dee’s hardest drumming and Kilmister’s most punishing bass.

If Motorhead was to cover the Rolling Stones, which song do you think they’d pick? That’s right, “Sympathy for the Devil.” It is, as you might expect, outstanding. Dee’s primal drumming kicks Campbell’s hot-as-Cerberus’-breath guitar into high gear and Kilmister’s vocals sound like they were recorded during a strange ritual held in a mausoleum. It’s the best cover song I’ve heard in years.

This is also the best metal album I’ve heard in years. Bad Magic deserves to be ranked high among Motorhead’s other records and is a great send-off for Lemmy. All of us should dream of creating something this powerful at age 70.

Clutch – Psychic Warfare

The first track on Clutch’s new album, Psychic Warfare, is a short spoken-word introduction called “The Affidavit.” Affidavits are used to establish probable cause, so I can’t help but wonder if Clutch (Neil Fallon – lead vocals, Tim Sult – guitar, Dan Maines – bass, and Jean-Paul Gaster – drums) is issuing a decree to rock and roll pretenders that they are guilty of phoning it in. Clutch has come once again to let them, and the rest of us, know that they mean business and (judging by the cannons and Valkyrie on the album cover) take no prisoners.

“X-Ray Visions” tells us that “psychic warfare is real.” I know the album certainly is because this first full track is a burner that rockets off like a jet car across salt flats. “Firebirds” is a fantastic blend of metal and mystical-themed rock that Clutch does so well. The band is always able to tap into a place where science fiction, fantasy, horror, and gut-punch rock mesh without trouble. If you are in a band, this is one of those tracks that will either inspire you to take your band to the next level or hang it up before you embarrass yourself further.

“A Quick Death in Texas” has a great swaggering groove. I’ve lost track of how many Clutch songs involve witches, but all of them are good and that includes “Sucker for the Witch.” Fallon admits “It goes against my Catholic upbringin’, but I’m a sucker for the witch.” I, a fellow Catholic, can’t blame him. As a friend of mine once said, “You could put a witch hat on any woman and she’ll look good.”

“Your Love Is Incarceration” has some of Sult’s slickest riffs. “Our Lady of Electric Light” almost sounds like a pirate song. “Noble Savage” is wonderfully frenetic, and Gaster goes bonkers on it. His drums lead the song more than the guitars, really. “Behold the Colossus” brings back the cosmic rock that Clutch does so well. It belongs on the soundtrack of a Silver Surfer movie should Marvel Studios decide to do one. “Decapitation Blues” is a solid rocker rooted with Maines’ bass. It’s easy to get hooked on Sult’s guitar work, Gaster’s grooves, and Fallon’s vocals, but Maines’ bass is so smooth on this track that it’s like a shadow creeping around the room.

The album ends with “Son of Virginia,” which harkens back to Clutch’s secret love of country blues, Americana, and the myths that go with it. It starts with spaghetti western guitar and builds to a raging funeral pyre that will melt your face.

Psychic Warfare is another solid entry into Clutch’s discography. This band can do no wrong. They tour with the passion of madmen, so you should be able to catch them live in a town near you. You owe it to yourself to do so.