Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Dune Sea - S/T (Album Review)


Release date: May 03rd 2019. Label: All Good Clean Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Dune Sea – S/T – Tracklisting

Pentobarbital And Ethanol
Dune Sea
Future
Morphine
Green
Astrodelic Breakdown
Bounty Hunter
Awake
Cosmic Playground

Members

Ole Nogva - vocals, guitar, synthesizer, effects
Petter Dahle - Bass
Erik Bråten - Drums

Review

Dune Sea debut album bridges the gap between Space Rock and Stoner Rock/Metal with relevant ease and shows the band creating their own highly stylistic sound that draws influence from Hawkwind, Earthless, Colour Haze and KYUSS. The album is quite a trippy and surreal audio experience with the band adding a cool seventies rock groove to their music as well.

The trippy audio soundwaves and hard-rocking Desert/Stoner Rock riffs is a concept we’ve heard a thousand times before. However, Dune Sea actually do weird and wonderful things with the standard rules of the Stoner/Space Rock genres that make you stand up and take notice.

Opening song – Pentobarbital And Ethanol – is a combination of Hawkwind sonic riffage and Fu Manchu/Kyuss classic Desert/Stoner Rock vibes with the song moving into heavier Doomed Out Territory. The song can be quite Post-Rock sounding at times but this gives Dune Sea a more cinematic sound. The music is fast-paced and never feels out of place. The harsh Bass Guitar towards the end of the song shows you that Dune Sea is not afraid to get down and dirty to create heavier sounds.

Second song – Dune Sea – has a nineties Stoner Rock flow to it with the band once again allowing the Space Rock vibe to become the main driving force behind their music. The vocals from Ole are sung superbly well with echoes of “FREEDOM” being sung in the background. This song sees Dune Sea play some fantastic heavy Psychedelic Stoner Metal guitar solos that have a vibrant energy to them.

Third song – Future – carries on the Psychedelic Stoner Rock madness from the opening two songs but with swirling Ambient noises and self-aware lyrics making this one of the standout songs on the album. The band show their appreciation for Science Fiction and Star Wars in general with some of the lyrics they have written for this song.

Fourth Song – Morphine – sees Dune Sea adding a seedy Garage Rock vibe to their music. However, the warped psychedelic riffs and distorted vocals don’t fully work and the band lose focus deciding which musical direction they want to fully explore on this song.

Fifth song – Green – sees the band return to winning ways with a heavy mix of Psychedelic Stoner Rock and warped Spaced Out sounds being played to their full potential. Heavy and intense in places making Green a trippy and very surreal psychedelic experience.

The remaining four songs sees Dune Sea continue playing their epic hybrid Spaced Out with different Ambient Noises just for the sheer heck of it. Songs such as: Astrodelic Breakdown, Bounty Hunter and Cosmic Playground – offer a cool narrative to each of the songs with the band telling an exciting story within each song through the power of their music.

Dune Sea is an excellent sounding record and the production is epic from the start. If you’re looking for a band to satisfy your Space Rock and Stoner Rock/Metal desires, then Dune Sea have you covered.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for the promo. Dune Sea debut album will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via All Good Clean Records from May 3rd 2019.

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