Saturday, 19 October 2019

The Whirlings - Earthshine (Album Review)


Release date: October 18th 2019. Label: Subsound Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Earthshine – Tracklisting

1.Vacuum 05:27
2.Reverence 07:52
3.#6 07:46
4.Good For Health, Bad For Education 05:54
5.Lost In Without 11:06

Members

Andrea Lolli
Mattia Lolli
Diego La Chioma
Giulio Corona

Review

Earthshine is the new album from Italian Psychedelic/Progressive Stoner Rockers – The Whirlings. Though there is so much more to this album than meets the eye. As the band create a stunning and wild mix of different sounds that draws influence from Stoner Rock, Space Rock, Progressive Rock and Post Rock. This allows Earthshine to have a deeply rich and mysterious narrative from start to finish.

Opening song – Vacuum – uses Space Rock as it’s main theme and the band just add different elements of Post Rock, Stoner Rock and Progressive Rock for a dark cinematic song that maybe hard to understand at first. Though it’s equally addictive with the spaced out grooves having an almost “Gothic” effect with swirling ambient psychedelic noises giving The Whirlings a much powerful sound that you initially expect. The vocals have a more nuanced approach and feel inspired by sounds of 70s/80s Post-Punk.

Second song – Reverence – carries on building the gloomy post-rock atmosphere first heard in the opening song. The song is deliberately slow at first before moving into a heavier style of Progressive/Stoner Rock. The soundclips allow the listener to immerse themselves with the subtle Space Rock vibes. The final two minutes of the song sees the band return to the heavy realm of Psychedelic Stoner Metal with fantastic results.

Third song #6 – is a 70s style Psychedelic/Progressive Rock journey of epic riffs which the band take even more creative risks with their overall sound. This song is very different to the opening two songs. As the band play a distorted style of Doom/Stoner Rock that once again impresses you from the start. The sheer creativity the band have put into this track is astonishing and makes it one of the standout songs on the album.

The final two songs – “Good For Health, Bad For Education” and “Lost In Without” sees the band change musical direction yet again and it’s a stunning end to an already impressive album. Lost In Without is perhaps the best song on the album. As the band have more time to play with and create a richer and fuller musical odyssey.

Earthshine is the type of album that’s best suited to the more adventurous Progressive Rock/Stoner Rock fan. As the album can be quite demanding in places but that’s one of the albums main strengths as well. It dares to be different and is a richer rewarding experience because of this.

Excellent and Highly Recommended

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo. Earthshine is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Subsound Records.

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