Release Date: August 09th 2024. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
Emerald Tablet / Taste of Sunlight (in My Mouth): Tracklisting
1.Emerald Tablet 03:59
2.Taste of Sunlight (In My Mouth) 03:56
3.Emerald Tablet (BONUS SOLO DEMO) 04:12
4.Taste of Sunlight (BONUS SOLO DEMO) 05:07
Members
Santtu Laakso: vocals, bass, synthesizers.
Tapio Lepistö: drums.
Aki Kuosmanen: guitars.
Joonas Soini: guitars.
Pentti Dassum: modular synthesizers
Review
Psychedelic/Space/Krautrock collective Astral Magic has been creating trippy, weird and wonderful records since 2020 and is the creative work of Santtu Laakso. They’re perhaps one of the most productive recording projects within the underground scene with over thirty records on their BandCamp Page.
I’m a fan of their music and I should have featured them on the blog ages ago but as the old saying goes - BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. Astral Magic have a dedicated loyal following which is evident by their impressive discography that I see within my friends on Facebook and BandCamp pages. I dig their own take on the Psychedelic Rock realm which they fuse Space Rock and Cosmic Surrealism at times whilst offering a refreshing Hard Rock flow to their music.
The band have collaborated with other musicians in the past on previous releases and they’re quite experimental with each passing release and today I’m reviewing their excellent new EP Emerald Tablet / Taste of Sunlight (in My Mouth) which feels like the bastardized offspring of Hawkwind, Monster Magnet and Earthless. The KrautRock energy gives this release a sense of urgency with the music being quite dynamic and aggressively fast-paced within the excellent opening track Emerald Tablet.
The song is quite fantastical with overlapping psychedelic guitars, ambient noise effects and trippy Stoner Metal energy with great vocals to match.
Second song Tears Of Sunlight (In My Mouth) opens with a bittersweet melodic “POP” style instrumental passage with little flashes of Jazzy Space Rock themes. Quite a different side to the bombastic opening track. The sound does become heavier but within the confinements of Commercial Rock before a scuzzy 1960’s Hard Rock sound appears and trippy noise effects works superbly well with the classic sounding synths. One of more interesting takes of Space Rock that I’ve heard in quite some time.
The final two tracks are solo demos of the two tracks which is quite different to the original whilst also being the same. It’s quite good to hear especially Emerald Tablet with the excellent digitized vocals that I preferred over the original. A great choice to include these two tracks which showcases how inventive and original that Astral Magic can actually be.
Emerald Tablet / Taste of Sunlight (in My Mouth) is another fantastic and outlandish release from Astral Magic which will even impress their die-hard fans and even the casual music fan who may just discover a great band to fully immerse themselves with.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Astral Magic for the promo.
Links
Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram