COMACOZER - MYDRIASIS (Album Review)

Release date: July 27^th 2019. Label: Headspin Records / Sound Effect Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

MYDRIASIS – Tracklisting

1.MYDRIASIS 13:11

2.TRYPTAMINE 11:30

3.KYKEON JOURNEY 20:51

Members

Rick - Guitars

Rich - Bass

Andrew - Percussion

Jabs - Synth/Keys

Review

Aussie Psych/Space/Stoner Rockers – Comacozer – return with their latest album MYDRIASIS. The album is a forty-five minute plus ride into the dark vortex of Psychedelic Space/Stoner Rock with the band adding a more Progressive and Droned out feel to their music.

The album is quite daring and bold with Comacozer creating a more personal sound compared to their previous releases. Maybe the band could be more adventurous with this album in places. However, Comacozer pull out all the stops creating an album that’s not afraid to play with listeners fears and expectations from start to finish.

Opening song – MYDRIASIS– is a progressive and droned out song with the band slowly building many different layers of Psychedelic Spaced Out Rock with a heavy handed Stoner Rock approach that sees the band add a delicious and darkly twisted FUZZ Rock/Metal groove to the song. The song runs past the thirteen-minute mark and Comacozer make sure you don’t leave empty handed with it’s exciting blend of Sixties/Seventies style of Jam based Freak-Out/Psychedelic Rock.

Second song – TRYPTAMINE – has a more cosmic feel on this song with the band adding gloomy sound effects and swirling ambient noises. The music starts rather quiet and slowly before Comacozer move away from their “Eastern” inspired sound for a more direct and exciting sound. This is the perfect song to lose and rediscover yourself in. As the song is quite reflective and forgiving in parts until the heavy riffs appear and all HELL breaks loose.

Third song – KYKEON JOURNEY – is the centrepiece of the album as it runs past the twenty-minute mark. It’s perhaps the hardest song to listen to on the album. As Comacozer take their time with this song and it does take time for the song to fully get moving. The song can be gloriously heavy one moment and deliberately slow the next. This song sometimes feels the band didn’t have enough time to get their spaced out message fully across on this song. However, this is a superbly written that sees Comacozer play to their absolute strengths and leaves you wanting more.

Overall, MYDRIASIS is a genuinely thrilling, stunning and expertly produced album that long-time fans of the band will admire the most.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to COMACOZER for the promo. MYDRIASIS is available to buy now on DD via BandCamp. Vinyl via Headspin Records and CD via Sound Effect Records.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Comacozer - KALOS EIDOS SKOPEO (Album Review)

Release date: August 20^th 2017. Label: HeadSpin Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

KALOS EIDOS SKOPEO – Tracklisting

1.AXIS MUNDI 13:40

2.NYSTAGMUS 12:26

3.HYLONOMUS 13:43

4.ENUMA ELISH 12:58

Members

RICK BURKE - GUITARS

RICH ELLIOTT - BASS

ANDREW PANAGOPOULOS - DRUMS / PERCUSSION

FRANK ATTARD - SYNTH / EFFECTS

Review

For those who did not know, Comacozer is a three piece instrumental/stoner/sludge psychonauts that, since their first Session Demo back to 2014 have been able to create their own style and personal vision of music.

With their last album, Kalos Eidos Skopeo (Headspin Records), the band composed by Rick Burke (Guitar), Richard Elliot (Bass), Andrew Panagopoulos (Drums), plus Frank Attard (Synth/Effects), continues its explorative journey to increasingly lysergic sounds. Kalos Eidos Skopeo is more than an album, is a real journey through the soul meanders. My Sleeping Karma fused with Ufomammut and Earthless to give birth to a rainbow of colours, sounds and feelings that will hardly leave the listener indifferent.

All the songs in Kalos Eidos Skopeo are characterized by a length largely over 10 minutes and by passages that bring the listener from (etno)trance to slurry sludge/doom moments. The album opens with Axis Mundi, a fuzzy/doomy song that closely remind me the slow elephantine cadence of the best Bongripper, which in the mid-song leaves room for mystical and psychedelic digressions. The album goes on with three inspired songs that could safely be part of a single ensemble. Psychedelia, mysticism and tons of fuzz are the ingredients that distinguish Enuma Elish, Hylonomous and Nystagmus.

While listening the album, the listener can feel the inspirational vein of Comacozer. Long and inspired songs that, although set along a common axis, do not go indifferent and make Kalos Eidos Skopeo a real concept album where it's easy to get lost. I really believe that with this new release the band has managed to centre a non common goal, that is, combining the inspiration of the moment with the right amount of composition, without exceeding in either of two ways. Nothing to say except that Kalos Eidos Skopeo is, in my opinion, an exceptional record in which Comacozer have succeeded in merging all the different souls that make up their musical background.

Awesome.

Words by Bruno Bellisario

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Comacozer - Astra Planeta (Album Review)

Release date: August 13th 2016. Label: Headspin Records/Shiny Beast. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Astra Planeta – Tracklisting

1.Saurian Dream 07:32

2.The Mind That Feeds The Eye 07:55

3.Navigating the Mandjet 06:21

4.Illumination Cloud 08:17

5.Hypnotized by Apophis 11:38

Band Members:

Rick B. - Strings of Mind Bending Psychedelia

Rich E. - Bass Notes of Cosmic Hypnosis

Andrew P. - Percussion from the Depths of a Nebula

Review:

Australian Spaced Out Doomsters Comacozer finally release their debut album – Astra Planeta and the results are glorious and spaced out as heck. Comacozer create epic spaced out Stoner/Doom with a hint of Sludge appearing now and again. The album is full of rich ideas flowing from beginning to end.

Opening track – Saurian Dream – sets the scene for the whole tone of the album with psychedelic spaced out noises merged with trippy doom based guitars. The whole mood of the album is one of discovery in the far reaches of space. Comacozer have a slight droning quality to their music but it’s a great sound as it gives them extra weight in the volume department.

Second track – The Mind That Feeds The Eye – carries on the spaced out sounds from the opening track though Comacozer play the tracks at a much quieter and slower pace. This allows the band to experiment with their sound and inject some trippy psychedelic noises into the mix.

One of the albums strengths is how Comacozer excel at creating post-rock style psych sounds and then turn the mood into something heavier with epic doom/stoner riffs. The album flows with such creativity from beginning to end that you’ll easily end up losing yourself in this album. The other three tracks on the album – Navigating The MandJet, Illumination Cloud and the almost twelve minute epic – Hypnotized by Apophis – carry on the same rhythm as the opening two tracks but Comacozer don’t rest on their laurels as they include Middle Eastern based noises. It’s a superb touch as it gives this album a world-weary feel to match the heavy space rock sounds flowing throughout the album.

If you’re a fan of Instrumental Doom/Stoner Metal then you’ll need this album in your record collection. As this is a must have album and perhaps one of the best Instrumental Rock/Metal albums of the year.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp