What do you get when Finnish space rockers Nolla team up with guitarist Mike Vest? Riot Season Records presents us with this hard-driving psychedelic trip into space that doesn’t disappoint through its three lengthy and solid tracks. While I think the Krautrock aspect may be a bit overplayed in the press release, the drumming has a nice solid motorik aspect. This record taps more into the vein of Loop and Spaceman 3 than it does Can or Hawkwind. Droning fuzz guitars and repetitive baselines create a hazy and hypnotic trance-like state of consciousness while the subtle unrecognizable lyrics hover in the mix. The eleven-minute opener “Nightmare Dimensions” especially calls back early Loop with its driving repetitiveness amidst the swirling guitars and clockwork-like rhythm section, which doesn’t stop until the final 45 seconds or so when the thing drops into a cold black hole. “Behind The Veil” sees us climbing out of that very same black hole at its start with what seems like a slightly more upbeat pace and slightly more intelligible lyrics. The album concludes with “Endless Black Space,” which again kicks off with a similar driving rhythm; however, this one drops off the edge of cold, icy space a few minutes in and drops us into an electronics black hole of machine-like drones and pulsing electronics before emerging again to get us moving again. This process repeats a couple of times through the full 18-minute piece, including the final 10 minutes. The final track plays much more like 4 different pieces so if you are not into the industrial dark droning side of things you may find it a bit taxing during the interlude and long conclusion. Overall I really like this record, but I would have to say that it plays more like 2 Ep’s mixed into one full length. While both styles appeal to me, that may not be true for many listeners.
Released by Riot Season Records (Sold Out) Still available for pre-order from Forced Exposure (USA), though I obviously cannot guarantee it’s eventual arrival.
