Snowy Dunes
Atlantis
Xemu Records
Ah, breathe deeply the smell of cheap weed; the kind of cheap weed you could only get back in the glory days of psychedelic rock. This Swedish band has the electric guitars tuned for a blues riff, they have the weird modulation that appear from the barely audible introduction lines to the ear crunching crescendos of power rock. Levitate as the magnificent guitar solos lift you off the earth; dream along with the intangible lyrics and the total hippie cool groove metal sound; relive my high school days.
This is an EP, but a solid, 30 minutes one. Lead singer Niklas Eisen belts that scorched larynx sound that we associate with the big hair, big tour glory days of hard rock. Compositions mix slow and fast and recall the progressive rockers and their gleeful experimentation. Lyrics tend toward the cryptic and in “Testify” talk about “Being set free” and “Who am I supposed to be?” If I had to pick a “similar to” band, it would be early Robin Trower. “Trident” takes us on a power guitar ride courtesy of lead guitar Christoffer Kingstedt, then slowly fades to weird 2001 style space noises. And “Atlantis III” wraps up the session with blazing drums (Stefan Jakobsson) and a pounding bass line by Carl Oredson. This is satisfying, enjoyable heavy metal that takes some time to slow down.
