Much like the Italian horror movies of the 70’s there is an almost maverick nature about the music they produce too, particular of the heavier variety. Embodying the “anything goes” spirit of those movie directors, they take their influences from the obvious sources, wear them loudly on their sleeves but then take them down a rebellious path of exploration. Where Fulci had horror of the eyes, the Italian stoner bands have weirdo tripped out horror for the ears.
Four albums deep, and following on from the excellent Cosmic Blues, Black Elephant once again return to fuzzed out space blues, a bastard amalgamation of Black Sabbath riffs and Hawkwind exploration. Mostly instrumental, but peppered just the right time with vocals to prevent it from getting too similar throughout, The Fall Of The Gods is worthy addition to a packed genre.
Starting slowly with the doom laden ‘Mother Of The Sun (part 1)‘ before the riff of ‘Go‘ ramps things up a notch, its the sound of an ominous storm approaching. As they cruise through the title track into the superb ‘Vedova Nera‘, taking in funky verses interspersed by loud choruses, it’s not altogether dis-similar to music coming out of Seattle in the 90’s, particularly the heavier stuff.
It’s a brief interlude into widening realms though, and we are soon ensconced in the liquid guitars and exploratory bass guitar runs. All of this is on the same song showing a keen free form style to music which can be very much one sided. This multi-faceted approach works well throughout the album. Later on we get ‘Dissociale’ which errs on the side of punk with its abrasive vocals. It never drifts too far from its mission though and before too long we re back to having our minds stretched on the far out ‘Shadow’.
For those of you yearning for a bit of heavy blues space rock then there is much to enjoy here. It has more than enough to keep your interest piqued throughout and indeed, in the presence of a beer or two or even something stronger, you may find yourself travelling down some interesting paths yourself. What more could you ask for from this type of music. A fantastic album.
