Release Date: December 01st 2023. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
The Tower - Tracklisting
1.Infinite Stairway of Madness 03:53
2.No Mouth, Must Scream 07:17
3.The Tower 02:52
Review
Prog Stoner Metallers Pharm return with their new EP - The Tower. It’s great to see the band have kept their jagged and experimental sound from their 2022 debut album Vortex. The Tower is fourteen minutes of chaotic sounding Punk/Metal grooves that has a slight PRIMUS feeling within this release alone. As Pharm channels many different styles for Punk, Prog, Doom, Psych and Stoner sounds for The Tower that can be very overwhelming at times. However, Pharm delivers an inspired style of warped melody throughout the EP which you can feel instantly on the excellent opening track Infinite Stairway Of Madness.
Second track No Mouth, Must Scream is more of a Prog Rock/Metal sound with perhaps small traces of Funk Rock appearing here and there. Pharm delivers strands of Experimental Stoner grooves with the crazed vocals allowing the band to conjure up Frank Zappa-esque warped themes with a real nightmarish quality shining through. The song is brilliantly weird and sometimes the mood can be hyper-kinetic which gives the EP a true outlandish feel.
The final track The Tower continues with the warped audio imagery of the previous track but with a more direct Hard Rock sound. The sound is still flashy and outrageous but there’s a more classic Stoner Rock sound appearing within the more theatrical moments of the song. The later stages become more despairing and critical of the modern world with the intense lyrics the band have written for this song.
The Tower is another daring release from Pharm and allows them to take their music and creative vision into a whole exciting direction compared to their debut album. If you like your Stoner Rock/Metal with a whole load of Experimentation and Paranoia then Pharm are the band for you.
Words by Steve Howe
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