 |
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
Arc of Ascent: Circle of the Sun
|
Astral Projection (AST007)
 Arc of Ascent is a new project by Craig Williamson from New Zealand. This is sort of a return to the roots since the man used to play bass in stoner rock band Datura before he started making psychedelic, cosmic, hypnotic and Eastern-tingled folksy rock on his own as Lamp of the Universe. Now he has guitarist Matt Cole-Baker and drummer John Strange as band mates and the music that is wholly written by Craig is heavy, slow and psychedelic also including many of the same elements that Lamp of the Universe has. Even the lyrics are still very cosmic and spiritual.
This CD has six long tracks and I just got to say I love them all! The album kicks off powerfully with the pretty slow, heavy and superb “Universal Form” that has strong vocals and also psychedelic lead guitar. I’m sure doom metal fans will like it too… “Cosmic Eye” continues along the same path somewhere in between stoner and doom and it has a very Black Sabbath-like riff towards the end. I also like very much the vocals and spacey solo part of this track. Heavy shit! The atmosphere gets more cosmic during “The Inner Sign” and it also includes some sitar and finally also percussion in the Lamp of the Universe style not excluding the heavy guitar riffs. A great number! “Absolution in Light” somehow brings to mind later Candlemass and the track is like a bit more melodic metal with an excellent chorus and groovy solo sections. There are also bits of sitar in between and the track also speeds up for a while in the end. “Godhead” follows continuously in psychedelic moods including delays and wah wah guitar as well as a rather slow drum beat. Soon we also get the simple but highly effective stoner riff and then also the vocals. There is some new stuff in the middle with hypnotic vocals and then comes a heavy, gloomy doom riff. This works! The album’s longest track “Master of the Serpents” finishes off things in a great way starting peacefully with monotonous organ thing. Then we’ve got a really heavy, Sleep styled riff and some vocals that sound like Lamp of the Universe. The chorus has some more melody and the track has lots of different riffs so in a way this is a bit more progressive stuff.
In summary, Circle of the Sun is a really good, heavy and rather psychedelic album that is pretty close to being perfect. Maybe the music would work even better if the tempo could alter a bit and not be more or less exactly the same from the beginning to the end. I also think that if they could incorporate the cosmic and ethnic dimensions of Lamp of the Universe more it would make this band even more interesting. I played several tracks off this album at Roadburn Festival and somebody always came to ask what it was, so Arc of Ascent seems to go down well with the Roadburn audience… I really hope the band will start performing also outside their home country.
www.myspace.com/arcofascent |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
if you're interested in
getting your records reviewed and played at out club, please
contact:
psychotropiczone(at)gmail.com |
|
|
|
 |
