Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno
Iao Chant from the Cosmic Inferno
Ace Fu
Japan’s Acid Mothers Temple are definitely an enigma. The brainchild of Kawabata Makoto, the rotating cast of supporting musicians who make up the group are something like a psychedelic conduit to the cosmos. The grandiosity of their musical output and the impetus behind it is a marvel in itself. Iao Chant From the Cosmic Inferno expands on Kawabata’s interest in the celestial and astral. The track was originally conceived by the Company Opera Invisible Tibet, but put through the ringer of psychedelic space rock, the operatic elements of the original – if there were any – have been reduced to deep-baritone choral chanting and short, cyclical lyrics. Backing this, AMT drop all manner of avant-garde musical accompaniment, from oscillating sci-fi electronics to epic prog keyboard passages to the pleasant void of planetarium ambience and the fuzzy groove of stoner rock. It’s a heady mixture that ends up being as self-sustaining as the lyric refrain. Though slightly absurd – as any music whose creator claims he’s communicating directly with the higher powers in the universe must be – even divorced from these invocations of the elder gods, it’s great, interesting space rock that doesn’t just rely on simple drone patterns to separate the listener from the terra firma.
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