In 2023 we missed the band at the Desertfest in Berlin. That should not happen to us again in 2024 at the Stoned From The Underground, because if the band slowly and unstoppably gets rolling at their concerts like a freight train, then nothing stops. "Jasmine" opens the album, so actually Status quo play with deeper guitars over a monster magnet stack, and so 5 minutes with a brick 70s Boogie with an unequal fat sound. Phil's voice somehow sings something that pulls you into this song with increasing duration that you just can't get out.
"Let's Go" is the best drive song (after "Running Down a Dream" by Tom Petty), which has ever been written - see review on Heavystoned.
The band then lifts the accelerator on "Smoke" and, in my opinion, get lost in a targetless psychedelic strumming.
"Cut Loose" comes across like a mighty wall on halftime drumming, whereby numerous breaks do not diminish the power of the song, but rather bring it out into the fore. "Topanga", on the other hand, is a brutal piece of doom metal with a little pinch of boogie, which gives the song more dynamic and doesn't leave it in the run-of-the-mill doom variety.
The riff of "Kaleidoscope" gets stuck in your head after a few listens and - although it's too slow for me - the piece gets a speed freak like me going. I actually listen to faster music, but Psychlona is so heavy and infectious that even I can't sit still.
"Split" is mostly a semi-acoustic psychedelic piece with a wide range of effects added. Towards the end, the swinging and flowing song builds up into a riff and solo orgy.
And finally we return to the boogie-heavy, forward-rocking style. "Magic Carpet" lets the long hair blow once again - or what's left of it at 60 years old.
This is how a very varied, hard, grooving album ends, which whets the appetite for the upcoming tour in the fall. A great album.
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