Release
date: April 7th 2017. Label: Relapse Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
Raw
Rock Fury – Tracklisting
1.Intro 00:16
2.You Got It Or You
Don't 07:42
3.The Electric Step
Pt 1 03:11
4.The Electric Step
Pt 2 06:08
5.Keep it Loose
04:57
6.Twinkling Eye Pt 1
06:03
7.Twinkling Eye Pt 2
02:53
8.Twinkling Eye Pt 3
05:08
Members:
Doug Sabolik
Michael Field Connor
Jordan Crouse
Kevin Nickles
Review
After their debut
album, Sonic Praise (released by Relapse Records in 2015), Ecstatic
Vision come back with a new insane trip called Raw Rock Fury (Relapse
Records).
In this album, the
former Philly trio, originally formed by Doug Sabolik
(vocals/guitar), Michael Connor Field (bass) and Jordan Crouse
(drums), adds depth to its lineup thanks to the inclusion of Kevin
Nickles at sax. The sound is colored and enhanced by an even more
jazz/fusion shades, which increase the rate of psychedelic in this
album.
Raw Rock Fury has its
roots deep in a land made of psychedelia, space rock, punk and
garage, all under the sign of Hawkwind. And it is exactly the British
band of Dave Brock, Nick Turner & Co. that Ecstatic Vision seem
to be worthy successors. In this second chapter of their discography,
the band from Philadelphia overwhelmingly confirms the good listened
to Sonic Praise. Every single song is a pure concentrate of the good
there was in the psychedelic (let's call it even space rock) and
progressive music between 60’s and 70’s.
The album opens with
the very short (16 seconds) Intro, introducing the first long track,
You Got It (Or You Don’t) that, after more than 7 minutes trip,
gently falls in the first of two long compositions, The Electric Step
(Pt .1 and 2). Keep It Loose divides the latter from Twinkling Eye, a
three parts suite where Ecstatic Vision give (to my opinion) their
best. In each song, the bass and drums create a lysergic background
that hypnotizes and surprises, where the guitars, synths and sax
blend to create a unique atmosphere.
The approach of the
band to a certain kind of music can also be seen in such a tracklist,
with long and structured songs connected to each other, almost
forming a unicuum. In the music of Ecstatic Vision we can find not
only Hawkwind, but also the MC5 and the Stooges, not forgetting a
certain progressive vein where Tangerine Dream and Amon Düül II,
but generally the whole krautrock/prog scene is king.
Raw Rock Fury sounds
vintage and modern at the same time, is a trip into the past, where
the only drug to be taken is the music of Ecstatic Vision. In half an
hour, this new release of the Philly quartet is likely to become a
masterpiece of the new wave of modern space-rock.
Words
by Bruno Bellisario
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