Spacelord - False Dawn (Album Review)

Release Date: November 05th 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

False Dawn  - Tracklisting

1.Enemy Lines 04:02 

2.Broken Teeth Ritual 05:49

3.How the Devil Got Into You 03:19

4.Breakers 05:54

5.Crypt Ghost 5:28

6.All Night Drive 07:52

7.M-60 07:19

8.Starswan 04:17

Members

Vocals, guitar: Ed Grabianowski 

Guitars, Bass and Drum Conjuring: Rich Root

Review

New York Psychedelic Stoner Rockers Spacelord third album False Dawn isn’t what you expect from the band with the album being more of a Blues Rock offering compared to their previous two based heavy Stoner Rock offerings. Spacelord have included Blues Rock sounds on their previous releases but it was more in the background where it’s the main focus on False Dawn. However, there are still a lot of cool Heavy Psychedelic Stoner Rock and Spaced Out interludes to keep everyone happy.

Spacelord still brings a wild 70s Hard Rock attitude on this album with False Dawn being a bold enough album to include elements from the 90s Grunge, Desert Rock and Stoner Rock scenes. With the band drawing upon their love for bands such as Black Sabbath, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden and Led Zeppelin for this album. 

There is a confident Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin swagger within the excellent opening tracks Enemy Lines and Broken Teeth Ritual with vocals from the Chris Cornell school of Grunge/Hard Rock. The tracks veer from Psych Stoner Rock to a grungier style of Blues Rock and Space Rock meeting in-between. I swear I can hear Black Sabbath classic song IRON MAN within Broken Teeth Ritual or certain elements of the song. Everything comes it’s own thing with a heavy Progressive Rock sound that’s mostly bound down to Spacelord’s creative way of Blues Rock thinking.

I’m not going in-depth with the songs like I normally do as Spacelord dictate a wild ride on this release that will instantly draw you in. If you wanted an album that brings the sounds from the bands mentioned earlier in this review then False Dawn is your album. Though I will point out my favourite songs on the album are: Broken Teeth Ritual, How The Devil Got Into You, Crypt Ghost, All Night Drive and M-60 with Spacelord playing their heaviest Blues based Stoner Rock grooves here.

If you’re a fan of the Hard Rock scene from 1970 upto the late 90s then Spacelord have captured that scene of Hard Rock on False Dawn. The record is unashamedly classic hard rock and Spacelord offers no apologies for this. The production is superbly handled by Spacelord’s very own Rich Root with the album being quite fresh from start to finish. The instrumental work is wonderful with Rich and Ed superbly paying homage to their musical heroes whilst showing what formidable musicians they are in their own right. 

False Dawn is a first-rate record and you should all get on this while you can.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Spacelord for the promo. False Dawn will be available to buy on CD/DD from November 5th 2021.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Spacelord To Release Soaring Sci-Fi Single "Enemy Lines" on October 1st 2021.

Spacelord To Release Soaring Sci-Fi Single "Enemy Lines" Oct. 1

Full Album to Drop in Early November

Inspired by Russian science-fiction novel "Roadside Picnic," Spacelord's latest single "Enemy Lines" space-cowboys up with soaring verses and an anthemic chorus. Paired with a b-side cover of Led Zeppelin's "Out on the Tiles," "Enemy Lines" presages the band's third album, scheduled for an early November release. 

"We're both insanely proud of this song," said singer Ed Grabianowski. "We hope our friends in the stoner, doom, and heavy psyche communities love it as much as we do. And we really hope this can reach a wider audience too. There are so many different elements coming together for this song, and for the full album, that I can't even tell you what genre it is. There's stuff here I think prog fans will like, stuff I think roots rock fans will like, classic rock fans, blues fans, even metal fans."

Spacelord made the Doom Charts with their first two albums, and played both the Descendants of Crom Festival and the Music is Art Festival in 2019. The core songwriting team of Root/Grabianowski embarked on a pandemic-induced remote recording project that evolved into what will be their third full-length album. "Enemy Lines is one of those tunes that forces itself into existence," said guitarist Richard Root. "It started as a simple acoustic track, but it was apparent to us right away that this song was begging to sprout much larger wings."

"A few years ago we played a Halloween show where we dressed up as Led Zeppelin and did a set of covers," said Grabianowski. "Even Stairway. But I was more intimidated by trying to do Bonham's drums for this Zeppelin cover than I was trying to do Plant's vocals. This song is so fun to play though. It's ridiculously happy."

Spacelord's third full-length album will be released in early November 2021. 

Critical praise for Spacelord's last album, "Indecipher"

"If you like Corrosion of Conformity, you like Bad Company on steroids, Sasquatch, Spacelord is the kind of band you're gonna be like, 'Oh shit, this is pretty cool.'" -John Gist, The Doomed & Stoned Show

"The band utilize everything from the blues through to desert rock to fill out their grooves and boast a vocalist in Grabianowski who could easily hold his own with...names like Plant, Rodgers and Dio!" - Frazer Jones, Desert Psychlist

"Like an unexpected transmission from outer space, this album stopped me in my tracks!" -Pat Harrington, Electric Beard of Doom

"Listen closely -- this is that dark and seductively dangerous sinner’s kind of musical sinistry." -Leanne Ridgeway, Riff Relevant

Tracklist:

A-side: Enemy Lines (Root/Grabianowski)
B-side: Out on the Tiles (Bonham, Page, Plant)

Spacelord is:

Ed Grabianowski: vocals, drums
Richard Root: guitars, bass, producer

Find Spacelord online:

Bandcamp
Instagram
Facebook
Spotify