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Seven That Spells, "The Men From Dystopia"
Czech psych group Seven That Spells add Acid Mother Makoto Kawabata into their fold for an album that sounds almost exactly like an Acid Mothers record. Be that as it may, it is still a high-quality recording that holds its own against some of that band's better material.
This music doesn't come across as a form of imitation either. The overarching but never overreaching walls of guitars and spacey electronics are seemingly engless throughout the five sections of this sprawling album. Curiously, Kawabata doesn't play guitar himself on this recording, sticking to electric sitar, tambura, and hurdy-gurdy. Much of the material is familiar territory to Acid Mothers fans, but it is so consistent in tone and mood that it's a particularly blissful experience that lacks any drastic or dramatic mood shifts. Even so, the dynamic impact hits in all the right places.
The whole thing begins with a man chanting as if in a discombobulated evocation of the guitar gods, who explode on arrival on the second track. The rhythm here is strident, and the texture gives it a near-mythical quality that's only reinforced by Kawabata's sitar runs. The third section finds the group stretching out a bit into some outer dimension, and it is a fun and convincing excursion. The latter half of this track leans a little too closely to the Acid Mothers flame before falling into a schizophrenic breakdown on vocals. The fourth section has its own metallic wails that are soon joined by bass pulses and hurdy-gurdy. The tone gets more alarming but never quite delves into paranoia. The final piece is the most meditative with its shimmering walls and warped vocals. An echoing chant works its way into the music, gets briefly monstrous, then is joined by a female counterpart to balance the album by its conclusion.
Seven That Spells put together a strong album that matches their influences without sacrificing quality. Their cues may be obvious, but the music is no less worthwhile as a result.
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