Saturday 14 March 2020

Mindcrawler - Lost Orbiter (Album Review)


Release date: February 20th 2020. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Lost Orbiter - Tracklisting

1.Valkyries 04:05
2.Bigfoot Walk 04:08
3.Drake's Equation 04:51
4.Red Dunes 05:01
5.Trappist-1 04:09
6.Dead Space 06:54

Members

Guitar & Vox: Joe
Guitar: Helge
Bass: Tom
Drums: Johannes)

Review

Lost Orbiter is the new album from Psych Stoner Rockers Mindcrawler who add a touch of Space Rock theatrics to their sound and this allows the album to be quite an action-packed affair. The album has a cool deft touch of seventies sounding Spaced Out Doom holding everything together with elements of Grunge and Hard Rock being added just for the sheer fun of it all.

Opening song – Valkyries – is an aggressive style of Post-Doom, Stoner Metal and heavy flashes of Psychedelic Rock allowing the band to show their commanding presence on this album.

Second song – Bigfoot Walk – is definitely more outlandish with its groovy lyrics and almost heavy distorted Stoner grooves. The song starts off superbly with heavy distorted and fuzz-laiden riffs. The vocals do take time to fully get on board with but will soon win you round. Though it’s the music that’s the main attraction here with deliciously heavy FUZZ sounds that hark back to the good old days of Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Truckfighters.

Third song – Drake’s Equation – is perhaps the trippiest and psychedelic song on the entire album and one that makes it one of the standout songs on the album with Mindcrawler playing to their musical strengths and a vast array of fantastic heavy sounds leading the way. The song is quite reflective in places and the almost sounding Post-Rock atmosphere of the song left me wanting more.

Fourth song – Red Dunes – is a more sombre affair and perhaps the most emotional part of the album with Joe’s vocals doing a grand job of conveying many types of emotion on this song. The riffs allow Mindcrawler to play a modern and heavier blend of Fuzz/Stoner Metal with a twinge of seventies Doom rock appearing towards the end of the song.

The final two songs Trappist One and Dead Space allows Mindcrawler to further expand their musical ideas to a much heavier level with a more progressive style of music with Trappist One being another one of the standout songs on the album.

Mindcrawler is one of those albums where you need to multiple listens to understand the full scale of it all. As there is a lot to take in on this album especially with the different styles of Stoner Rock/Metal the band have included on this album.

Overall, Lost Orbiter is an album that sees the band play to their many musical strengths and release an adventurous album that should help them appeal to the wider Stoner Rock/Metal community.

Words by Steve Howe

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