Phased

Medications (Elektrohasch)
by Craig Regala

“What we’ve got here is a hammering slab of psychedelic deathrock.” – My friend Kevin. He’s right y’know. This is heavy rock tuned into both the lumbering trudge that flows in papa Sabbath’s wake and the down-tuned desert vibe Kyuss gifted to the EEC, where it lives and breathes. Here it breathes with blackened breath. The space rock component is kipped from Monster Magnet’s Black FlagNation of Hawkwind’s drug drone. Then there’s the doom part; thee graven shudder reborn as sludge and slow grind is not always evident, but itlurks to be drawn upon. How much do you think about your back bone?

The burnt dragging lock groove chomps like a prime molten lead update on post-punk acid-rock wherein Sonic Youth, Loop, and others play Dystopian mindgames with drones, dissonance, and down/fucked tuning within their rock as hell hole. Ergo: It’s got a post-’90s vocal grrr! and physical density rooted in the depresso grunt from paragraph one. It’s blues for downcast rockland. Even the uptempo rocker stuff – “Solitary Animal,” “Reminder,” “Back in Time” – still has a lurch to it. No pop party here.

Jesus, I talk about Black Flag a lot, but damn this seems like another splinter off that unit’s shattered rock, shot through 20 years of space (the final frontier), inhabited by H.R. Giger’s fevered art. Remember Fudge Tunnel? They covered The Nuge’s “Cat Scratch Fever” …slowly … I figure it really registered with these fellas. Check the groove of “Traces.”

In summation, the completely objective rating committee gives it eight anvils. Me? I’d add another whack of Thor’s hammer, but I’m prone to such things. Now I gotta get the first one, Music For Gentlemen. I’ll get the girl drunk, and when she goes to pee, I’ll sift through her purse for a 20. No wonder I got a patent on the “Will Sin for Rock” t-shirt, eh?
(www.elektrohasch.de)