Queen Elephantine - Surya (2008)

192kbps Mp3 1. Queen Elephantine 2. Ramesses II 3. Kabir 4. Plasma Thaw 5. Bison Shelf classification: Rock & Metal / Doom / Stoner / Psychedelic / Experimental Stonerrock.com: Best described as a sprawling psychedelic space jam, Surya is the full-length debut of Queen Elephantine and a crushingly impressive follow-up to recent split-albums with Sons of Otis and Elder. Queen Elephantine's formidable contributions to those records were weighty works themselves, but a mere sampling of what they could do on their own. Surya's five tracks stretch out to over an hour, as the band lives up to its name and presents a perfect soundtrack to the unwieldy march of a mystical elephant caravan across the celestial plains. They melt down the sounds of Black Sabbath, Sleep, Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, early Monster Magnet, and a variety of other influences into a cosmic swamp all their own, populated by droning numbers like the self-titled lead off track and lumbering epics such as the 16-and-a-half-minute "Ramesses II," which rumbles along almost religiously with its chanted lyrics and smoky atmosphere until the pace picks up for its swirling climax. The Middle Eastern influence of the instrumental "Kabir" provides a trippy interlude before "Plasma Thaw" swings in on a monstrous groove reminiscent of the usual suspects from the '70's and doesn't let up, definitely the catchiest song on the album. "Bison" closes the record at a mammoth 27 minutes and 24 seconds, an expansive sonic journey that never gets boring or monotonous. The layers upon layers of hypnotic rhythms and molasses riffs, enhanced by the jammed-out feeling throughout Surya should please fans of bands like Sons of Otis, Mammatus, Acid Mothers Temple, Ufomammut, and Om. The band is still in search of a record label to release the album as a physical entity, rather than its current digital format, but Queen Elephantine won't be denied for long as they continue their trek to the throne of heavy space-rock royalty. Hellride Music: Queen Elephantine is a group of young explorers in the world of heavy psychedelia, and â??Suryaâ?? is their first full-length, coming hot on the heels of various split releases and such in the past year or two. â??Suryaâ?? is a long, contemplative trip into the world of inner visions, a journey in which the devotional merges with the visionary to stake out a unique corner of the musical underground. â??Suryaâ?? begins with â??Queen Elephantine,â?? a lurching, meditational drone with plenty of heavy, distorted bass; a recipe the group uses to its advantage throughout the album. The song builds very slowly, offering visions that are somehow relaxed yet filled with anxiety, bringing to mind a space voyage with a crash landing on a far planet, where the alien sands drift quietly over blurry shapes both bizarre and sinister. â??Ramesses IIâ?? is a desert mirage of jerky military rhythms and monks offering devotional chanting that builds into the wails of lost souls. â??Plasma Thawâ?? is more rawkinâ??, while the 27+ minute â??Bisonâ?? is as thunderous as its namesake, with leaving-the-rails blues-based thrashing reminiscent of English cult doom/sludge outfit Ramesses. This tune pushes Queen Elephantine territory out further, with various plodding sludgy riffs creating a claustrophobic blues hell colonized by nasty Tibetan demons of every des c r i p tion. Lovers of heavy psychedelic doom or drone as manifested by groups as wide-ranging as Sleep, Acid Motherâ??s Temple, Mammatus, YOB, and even â??Saucerâ??-era Floyd should climb aboard with these young musicnauts. Itâ??s not a comfortable or easy trip by any means, but it will reward your (lysergic) attention.

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Ollemann (2009-02-22)

Thanks a lot!