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Released on December 11, 2015 via Ripple Music
It is both a comment on how good KIND is and a damming indictment on how little this genre has changed in the last 25 years or so when I confess that after listening to the opening track to this album, ‘German for Lucy’, reminded me so much of old Kyuss that I went on a three-day binge of the Palm Desert trio.
It is all there in Rocket Science: the riffage, the widescreen psychedelic breakdowns and weathered hard rock vocals. It’s like it’s 1992 all over again. And of course, 1992 was 1972 all over again. And so it goes…
But comparison to Kyuss is no bad thing. And this band, a supergroup of sorts, featuring Elder’s drummer Matt Couto, Darryl Shepard, the guitarist from Black Pyramid, Tom Corino, the bassist from Rozamov and vocalist Craig Riggs of Roadsaw, as well as the head honcho at the heralded Mad Oak studios, has the uncanny knack of being a sum of all the members’ parts. The more straightforward rock elements of Roadsaw shine through, as well as Elder’s psychedelic tinges and the sheer doom of Black Pyramid and Rozamov.
This album was recorded in the space of a weekend, barring a few fancy additions, and it shows – in a good way. It sounds spontaneous and like the members were all having a blast. From the triple thump that begins the riff for ‘German for Lucy’ to the pulsing electronic sound that signals the opener’s breakdown, to the spaced out, black-hole-riff-bearing ‘Angry Undertaker’, with vocals from a particularly scary part of the sixties, there is much to enjoy in Rocket Science.
Like the classic rock of ‘Fast Number One’ and ‘Rabbit Astronaut’, or the slow burner that is ‘Hordeolum’, which is dripping in sticky fuzz guitar to start with, then embarks on an extended, hypnotic jam session that Randy California would have been proud to conjure up. ‘Pastrami Blaster’ is probably the most Kyuss-like, with its choice of title and rolling down-tuned riff coupled with soaring vocals.
‘Siberia Calling’ reels in the fuzz to allow Riggs’ vocals to take centre stage, while ‘Grogan’, which follows, is the album’s highlight. It is an old cliché when it comes to stoner rock and all its iterations, but this song really does demand to be played at high volume in a fast car while driving across a desert. Why? Listen to the chorus and see if you don’t want to stick your head out of a car window and into the wind, like a drooling Labrador. Or turn up the the ‘aaah, aah’ vocals which accompany the fade-out and just try to resist finding a long skateboard to whizz down a hill on. Lord only knows what Riggs is bellowing in this song, but it sure sounds good.
Yes, you may have heard many of the tricks on here before but, to misuse the album’s name, it’s not rocket science to know that little can beat a decent riff when it comes to good music. Hell, KIND’s label Ripple Music seems to have made it their mission to free every stoner riff in existence.
And there’s no harm in retreading the past when it is played with such a passion and an affection for the music. If the worst that can happen after listening to this is going on a three-day Kyuss binge, then KIND must be doing something right.
