Album review: VARIOUS – Heavy Psych Sounds

http://www.heavypsychsounds.com [Release date 08.04.16]

Remember the days when you would go into your local record store and there would be just two categories of music – Rock and Pop, maybe if there was an upstairs or a downstairs, there might be Blues, Jazz and Classical sections. Life was simple, wasn’t it ?

These days the differences in margins are very fine indeed as evidenced by this promotional compilation issue from Heavy Psych Sounds Records featuring Heavy Pysch, Stoner, Retro Rock, Sludge, Psych Rock, Acid Rock, Doom, Space Rock, 70’s Rock and even a bit of Garage Fuzz.

Stick post- or grunge- in front of any of those and you’ve got another ten different genres of music. I want to meet the guy (or more realistically the iGen-er !) who can accurately explain the difference. Or maybe I’m over-analyzing it, being an old fuddy-duddy, wanting everything labelled an organized like in your Dad’s garage.

If you like your musical diet to sound like it was recorded by cavemen with upturned paint buckets for drums, razor blades for picks and rusty wire for guitar strings in the vomit-stained toilet of a sealed prison cell which has been concreted into a bomb shelter, then, hey – have I got an album for you! Some of this should not be listened to after dark (check out “Liar Behind Me” by Deadsmoke from Italy….yikes !) and preferably not alone.

Not sure, to be honest, which one of this collection was the “70s Rock” track listed – most of this doomage sounds like early Sabbath without the optimism and sunshine. If every band on this collection played on the same festival bill, Donald Trump would build a wall around it and propel it out to space.

Roll a phat one, kiss your ass goodbye and prepare to have your inner ear cavities filled with acid and pummeled by the soundtrack for the Apocalypse – just don’t expect four Horsemen but rather these 17 bands of cruddy, filth purveyors….if this is Satan’s antidote to Beyonce, then it’s awesome….you know, if you like that kind of thing. But if your Dad hears it, he’ll remove your tattoos with sandpaper and you’ll be whisked into counselling for the summer.

Out of five, I’d be petrified not to give it five in case Deadsmoke show up on my doorstep – the hardcore out there will love this all day long. Just depends on what you like…..

Review by Mark “Mad Dog’ Shaw

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)