Release Date: May 03rd 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: CD/DD
Caracaras - Tracklisting
1.Desert Eyes 03:51
2.Sage 04:38
3.Smokehouse 09:00
4.The Crawl 04:13
5.Hunter's Moon 02:31
6.Haunted Vista 08:04
Band Members
Kenyon Albon - Drums
Stuart Masters - Baritone Guitar, Oud, Vocals
Review
Heavy Psych Rockers Nine Moons latest album Caracaras is a record that is mostly driven by 1960’s & 1970’s era of Heavy Psych, Garage Rock, Acid Rock and Blues Rock. The sound is then topped off with a thrilling 1990’s devilish blend of Desert Rock, Grunge and Stoner Rock. The whole journey is one of that is unashamedly RETRO RAWK with moments of aggressive Stoner Rock which turns up in the most unlikeliest places with Nine Moons laying down a non-stop array of trippy Psychedelic jams which can be quite off-beat and kooky but for all the right reasons.
Caracaras gets off to a flying start with tracks such as Desert Eyes and Sage have a sublime style of vintage sounding Stoner Rock grooves where NIne Moons sound like QOTSA and KYUSS in places but if those great bands played with a more stripped back approach. The instrumental sounds can be quite trippy and you can hear echoes of Middle Eastern flavours starting to appear within the first half of the album.
The vocals are warm, friendly and quite engaging from lead vocalist Stuart but Nine Moons do play some jagged and volatile sludgy guitars along the way. Nine Moons impress the most on the two lengthier tracks on the record with Smokehouse and Haunted Vista. These are the third and last tracks on the album but they offer the most soulful, bashful and heaviest moments of the record with a classic Blues Rock and Psychedelic Rock being quite “POP” based at times. These two songs are quite melodic but with a Prog Rock finish which allows Nine Moons to experiment with their sound even further.
There’s two other cool sounding shorter tracks of The Crawl and Hunter’s Moon which retain a more classic Stoner Rock/Grunge essence but with that Middle Eastern movement appearing once again. This allows Nine Moons to be quite comfortable and superbly clever with all the different styles and lengths of music that appear within Caracaras.
Caracaras is quite a surprising album with the different creative turns that Nine Moons take the listener upon especially within the thirty two minutes short run time. This is a delightfully hip and adventurous record which offers some classic sounding riffs along the way.
Words by Steve Howe
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