Release Date: 27th April 2026. Record Label: Glory Or Death Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Salton Dust - Tracklisting
1.Salton Dust I 19:49
2.Salton Dust II 06:43
3.Glyphwave 05:13
4.A Sigil Bloom 09:06
Members
Matthew Glenn Meyer - Guitar
Kristofer Dawson - Bass
Kiran Sheshadri - Drums
Review
Salton Dust is the debut album from Instrumental Psychedelic Stoner Rockers Phantom Dust and it’s quite a highly captivating free-flowing affair that shows traces of Acid Rock, Space Rock and Post-Doom melodies along the way. Phantom Dust have a major secret weapon at their disposal on this record and that’s the extraordinary musical talents of a certain Isaiah Mitchell (EARTHLESS) appearing throughout the whole album. Sure, EARTHLESS is a massive influence on Phantom Dust but that’s only a small aspect with the band taking cues from the likes of YAWNING MAN, KARMA TO BURN, MONKEY3 and even heavier Doomed Out Bands.
The record has an epic free-flowing melody which allows Phantom Dust to tap right into the seedy heaviness of their Acid Rock creative persona with a lucid imagination exploring deeper Progressive musical themes especially within the epic opening track of Salton Dust I. There’s a rebellious slice of Classic Hard Rock that has an eerie style of Seventies Twin Guitar based action that reminds me of Thin Lizzy before the mood changes into one of Space Rock exploration with a gritty Stoner Rock undertone.
There are many moments of all of the band's musical individuals trying to wrestle creative control from each other in order to impress Isaiah Mitchell and that musical direction brings out the absolute best of the core members of the band. The album really becomes more thrilling and interesting for me when they move firmly into the realm of Doom Rock and Stoner Metal heaviness where the music is quite frenzied. Sounds become disjointed and pushes the album into new musical areas of absolute heaviness where an unexpected sideline of Sludgy Psychedelics appear to filter out the jam-based aspect of the album from time to time.
The opening track Salton Dust I is the standout track and just whets the appetite for Phantom Dust to explore other areas of their Instrumental Heavy World for the remainder of the album. The other three tracks Salton Dust II, Glyphwave and A Sigil Bloom are equally as good with Phantom Dust; they're just as capable of creating and exploring massive cinematic worlds within shorter timescales but with a real sense of urgency and grounded reality being the main strengths of the whole album.
You have to admire the great use of Ambient sound effects, fuzzed out amplifiers and distorted reverb that’s added on various stages for the album that feels like a turning point for the listener to become more wonderfully engaged with this epic spaced out adventure. The atmosphere can be quite aggressive and wonderfully uplifting with the great use of Post-Stoner effects appearing towards the end of each song that leaves you wanting more of this sublime use of delivering music that can be quite subversive.
Salton Dust is a record that deserves to be heard by the biggest audience possible. This is a record that has massive appeal and fans of Instrumental Rock Music should check this out when they possibly can. The production values are off the freaking scale that allows PHANTOM DUST to create HUGE SOUNDING GROOVES of their own making. This record has the potential to allow Phantom Dust become the “next big thing” within the Instrumental Stoner Rock scene in the years come if they keep making brilliant albums such as this.
Words by Steve Howe
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