Australian psych / stoner rock powerhouse Comacozer have returned with another instrumental freakout – Kalos Eidos Skopeo. The name of the album, of course, is a play on the words “kaleidoscope” or “kaleidoscopic,” suggesting that the music can be viewed / interpreted many different ways at once.
Take the opener, “Axis Mundi” (the cosmic / world axis), for example. It begins with squawking guitars that sound like something from a slasher film soundtrack, but the track becomes almost a meditative piece by the time it reaches the five-minute mark thanks to skillful use of guitar reverb and subtle yet precise drumming.
“Nystagmus” might bring on its namesake (involuntary twitching of the eyes) with its cosmic jam guitars, slightly creepy bass, and doom metal drumming. I love how “Hylonomus” (the name of the earliest known reptile) starts off sounding like it’s a spaghetti western song and then morphs into a Middle Eastern-flavored dream that might be happening in the mind of an ancient lizard dozing in the stump of a massive, dead tree. It then morphs a second time into a great groove that belongs in a car chase sequence in a big budget film. It’s great to hear Comacozer cut loose like this.
Need to knock out a wall in your house to expand your kitchen? Don’t bother with sledgehammers. Just play the closer, “Enuma Elish,” and aim your speakers in the right direction. The song is about the Babylonian creation myth which involves – among other things – the god Marduk defeating the goddess of the oceans and creating the earth and sky out of her body. Comacozer somehow manages to put all this epic stuff into one song (that last nearly 12 minutes).
You might have noticed that this album only contains four songs. Don’t let that worry you, because all of them are around thirteen minutes in length. It’s a full album of instrumental cosmic psychedelia and worth every penny.
Keep your mind open.
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