LAZER BEAM - Lost In Oblivion (Album Review)

Date Released: October 28th 2022. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Lost In Oblivion: Tracklisting

Sorry For The Heartache

Lost In Oblivion

Skate On By

Dandelion Wishes And The Knight Of Wands

Lower Your Guns

I Really Want U Slowly

Vultures

Derelict (Feat. Patrón)

The Graveyard

Members

Locust French - Everything

Review

Lost In Oblivion is the new album from Psych Stoner Rockers LAZER BEAM and it's a deliciously entertaining and surprising different album which I'll explain later. LAZER BEAM is the work of one individual called Locust French. The album is radically different to the other albums that has been released under the LAZER BEAM banner.

Opening song Sorry For The Heartache is a slightly "POP" style of Desert Rock/Stoner Rock with quite a sweet edge. Soothing vocals and lush sounding Psych Rock guitars offer a more "Post-Stoner" or "Post-Desert" effect. There's some heavy stylish and digitised sounds waiting to be heard but LAZER BEAM offers mostly a deeply sweet and surprisingly heavy style of modern day Psych Rock.

Second song Lost In Oblivion opens with Electronica and Alt Rock sounds with a deep soulful Sludgy sound that  offers a more direct style of Stoner Rock/Metal. There are still elements of digitised riffs and sonic trickery but at least LAZER BEAM is playing familiar grooves heard on previous releases. The vocals are still friendly and perhaps feel better suited to a more lighter style of music but you can hear that intake of Heavy Psych based Stoner Rock in the background. The lyrics are hopeful, romantic but ever so slightly rebellious.

Third song Shake On By feels partially inspired by All Them Witches in places but with that ever hopeful style of almost Psychedelic Stoner Rock. The song does have a slight touch of gloominess even with Locust's outstanding lyrics paying homage to 1980's based POP MUSIC and Heavy Rock.

Fourth song Dandelion And The Knights Of Wands becomes ever more gloomier and heavier with the music. Perhaps moving more into Post-Doom sounds with the lyrics becoming a bit rebellious as well. However, the first rate guitars and vocal harmonies from Locust keeps the mood mostly upbeat and engaging.

The second half of the album is where everything becomes sinister and a bit more daring with LAZER BEAM operating with a more MATURE or RATED R presence with the creative choices that he delivers with the lyrics and vocal content on tracks such as Lower Your Guns, I Really Want U Slowly and Vultures having a sharp contrast to the first half of the album.

The reason for that is because this album was meant to be originally released as two separate EP's which Locust decided to release as one full album. Truth be told, I applaud and agree with that decision. This is perhaps a more complete album because of that choice. The mood, melodies, grooves, psychedelic sounds, lyrics and vocals are more daring especially on Lower Your Guns and I Really Want U Slowly.

Vultures and Derelict (Feat Patrón) are my favourite tracks on the album with Derelict truly standing out thanks to a fabulous vocal performance from Patron. Seedy and imaginative as anything you can hear from this style of Psychedelic Stoner Rock. 

Everything onwards from Lower Your Guns is perhaps the best material I've heard from Locust French. The different styles of vocal melodies, musical compositions and different creative themes still allows the LAZER BEAM project to have a wide array of different riffs and grooves to keep the Stoner Rock underground collective superbly entertained for a long time to come.

Truth be told. This is the album I always wanted QOTSA to deliver after their landmark Songs For The Deaf album but sadly haven't managed to do so for me personally speaking.

My final thoughts is that Lost In Oblivion is LAZER BEAM's best release to date and he may struggle to better this with future releases. I'll probably be proved wrong on that with Locust French being one of the most original and creative voices within the Stoner Rock Underground scene.

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

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Lazer Beam - Man In The House (EP Review)

Release Date: September 02nd 2022. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD

Man In The House - Tracklisting

Man In The House

Night Life Fever

Roller Queen

Members

Locust French - Everything

Review

Man In The House is the first of three releases that Desert/Stoner Rock Artist Lazer Beam will be releasing in the next few months which Locust announced the other day. The EP lasts for ten minutes and sees a different creative vibe to Lazer Beam debut album.

Opening song Man In The House is quite “Pop” orientated with a gloomy industrial NIN and QOTSA feel. The song has glitchy soundytes with a deep Electronica sound. The lyrics are not what I expected from the Lazer Beam project. There’s a violent feeling contained within the lyrics and the Electronica vibe is not exactly Desert/Stoner Rock material. However, Locust has made some daring and bold creative choices on this song.

Second song Night Life Fever continues with the Industrial/Electronica approach with the song being very Stoner Rock orientated with sludgy grooves and modern day QOTSA inspired vocals. The lyrics are more rebellious and less violent compared to the opening song. This is the standout track on the EP and shows another different side to Lazer Beam. Psychedelic Grooves are more powerful thanks to the Industrial/Electronica sounds that Locust plays primarily here.

The final song Roller Queen is full of seedy attitude and with a  cool “Jim Morrison” and “Dave Wyndorf” inspired attitude on the spoken word elements of the song. Lazer Beam plays wicked sounding STONER/WEEDIAN sounds on this track and it can be downright funky in places. The song is fairly concise, lasting over two minutes in length but this track features the best grooves on the EP that leaves you wanting more.

Yeah, it sucks this release lasts under ten minutes but Lazer Beam plays more daring and adventurous sounds on Man In The House that I want to hear more and I'm hoping the upcoming EP's match the high standard that Lazer Beam has delivered fully here. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Lazer Beam or the promo.

Man In The House will be available to buy on DD  from September 02nd 2022.

Links

Facebook | Bandcamp

Desert/Stoner Rock Artist LAZER BEAM Announces Plans To Release 3 New EP's In 2022.

Desert/Stoner Rock Artist LAZER BEAM (Locust French) who gained acclaim from the underground scene with his 2021  self-titled release has this great announcement to make. 

I will be releasing music for the remainder of this year in chapters. I tend to find myself sporadically writing and recording music, sometimes super heavy, sometimes super pop heavy, sometimes laid back, other times aggressive. At this time I find that I have amassed quite a large catalogue, but don't want to just drop 20 songs at once, I also don't want to split it into 2 albums, because by next year I feel it would be too long of a wait for fans. 

So with that being said I've started to put together these EP's that kind of flow into each other, first I wanted to kick off my releases with a track called Nothing 2 Smoke. It didn't quite fit with the rest sonically, but I thought it would be a fun song to kick off the new music with. It comes out August 5th.

The Man In The House EP is a dingy and grimey 2am party starter with songs about going out drinking, roller skating, getting lost in the euphoria. But there always seems to be a dark turn. Man In The House comes out September 2nd.

The Lost In Oblivion EP is my collection of pop songs, structurally and melodically strong songs with themes of lost romance. Lost In Oblivion comes out September 30th.

The Derelict EP is a slower paced collection with more progressive type songwriting, including a guest appearance from singer PATRON on the title track Derelict. It includes a revision of a previously released song, and a cover of The Devil Makes 3's The Graveyard. Derelict comes out October 28th.

I'm very proud to share it with you all.

Background Info on the music and credits:

Most songs were recorded in my short bus (Ullyses) at the 300 level in Jerome, Arizona powered by a small inverter generator. If you listen closely you can hear the generator in the mix still which I thought was a fun easter egg type thing.

Artwork by Dylan Zon

Music was written and recorded and mixed by Lucust French, with mixes by Chris Hughes on tracks: Man In The House, Skate On By, Really Want You, Lower Your Guns, & Derelict.

Drums were recorded at Bird and Egg Studios in Richmond, CA.

Thanks to Locust for all of the details.

Links

Facebook | Bandcamp

Lazer Beam - S/T (Album Review)

Release date: April 09th 2021. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Lazer Beam – S/T – Tracklisting

1.Sink Or Swim
2.In The Moonlight
3.Don't Tell
4.Sno Burn
5.You Drive Me Crazy
6.Take Me Home
7.Damn The Reptiles
8.Silver
9.Adam & Eve

Members

Lucust French – All Instruments
Chris Hughes – Percussion

Review

Lazer Beam is the new project from Burn Thee Insects member – Lucust French – and it’s an off-beat version of Desert Rock, Grunge, Psychedelic Rock and Stoner Rock. This album sees Lucust French show his love for bands such as QOTSA, KYUSS and even Alternative Rock bands such as Arctic Monkeys.

The album is a weird offering of many different styles held in the Psychedelic Rock world with the lyrics having a more lyrical effect along with the music that allows the album to offer a more nomadic style of Psychedelic Stoner Rock.

Opening song – Sink Or Swim – is basically a twisted Pop song wrapped up in Punk/Grunge and Stoner riffs and Lazer Beam have a blast playing a twisted style of music that moves nicely between the distorted FUZZ and almost NOISE ROCK sensibilities. Though, the Stoner Rock aesthetics is what will impress you the most but the sweet-natured vocals from Lucust are quite soothing despite the rebellious lyrics.

Second song – in The Moonlight – opens with a more Speed Punk influence being heard first before Lazer Beam move into familiar Fuzz Rock/Doom-Pop grooves. The turbo-charged riffs has a certain early-QOTSA feel and you can hear a direct Josh Homme influence on this song. The lyrics and vocals especially and that’s a very cool thing to hear.

Third song – Don’t Tell – is a more grizzled Desert Rock number with the band growing ever more confident with their “hybrid” sound. The song is quite fast-paced with the different styles of music that remain here. The Psychedelic Poppy moments allow the band to play some cool guitars that have a certain “Grunge” feel to them.

The album contains 9 songs and each allow Lazer Beam to show a different style of Stoner Rock for the majority of the album. The album is quite rebellious which I’ve mentioned before but it also has a sweet-natured atmosphere and that’s down to the stunning vocal performance from Lucust and fantastic lyrics held on the album.

Other cool songs to check-out are: Sno-Burn, You Drive Me Crazy, Damn The Reptiles and Silver. These songs are the ones that I enjoyed the most as Lazer Beam feel more confident with themselves and play some of the heaviest and best sounds of the album right here.

Overall, this is a fantastic and wonderfully off-beat record that impresses with it’s wild and vivid ideas from start to finish.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Sheltered Life PR for the promo. The album will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl from April 09th 2021.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp