Review: Comacozer - Deloun Sessions

Hot on the heels of Hotel Wrecking City Traders comes another huge slab of antipodean fuzz. I don't know a great about Comacozer apart from an email from the band and the bandcamp page, but what I do know is that they play some gloriously heavy, fuzzed-out psych. The album is ostensibly a limited edition release by Headspin Records of the band's previous two EP's 'Sessions and 'Deloun'. It is an album of heroic proportions......heavy, fuzzy and intense....needless to say - right up my boulevard.

'Flamens of the Highest Order' sets their stall out well, beginning with some lush guitar, deep and resonant, before the drums sporadically join. There are some lovely flashes of psychedelic stylings in what is a repetitive (in a good way) hypnotic build up but things soon get very noisy. The guitars bust out into some heavy, heavy riffage, the wah-wahs shaking the speakers of their stands. It is the very heaviest of psych, not unlike Naam in their prime. After the frenetic jamming of the middle, things settle once more into a more atmospheric vibe, the guitar at this point is playing some groove-laden psych, rich in reverb. The last minute or so sees the tempo pick up again to see the track out in a blaze of fuzz. What a way to start an album!. 'Cosmic Hypnosis' begins with some spacey effects and snippets of spoken word samples to give it the titular cosmic vibe. The guitar once again is deep and lush, echoing like a lost transmission in space, but blink and you'll miss it...it is just over two minutes in length. 'Nebula Dawn' takes us straight back into space on a gentle, atmospheric ride to the stars. The drums and bass provide a framework for some languid guitar that floats in and above the rhythm. Gradually it increases in intensity, the guitar becoming more insistent and the tempo picking up and then....the guitar really lets loose in wave after wave of fuzz and reverb, becoming a freak-out of Blown Out proportions. 'Einherjar March' (Einherjar are the fallen warriors in Norse mythology who have been taken to Valhalla) is worthy of the mythic title..it starts with a flurry of feedback drenched guitar that rasps through your head like a buzzsaw through balsa. The drums, primal and powerful, add weight to the already dense track and then, like an oasis of calm, it breaks to reveal some more delicate guitar. This breather doesn't last long before the maelstrom of fuzz and beats begins again. The track continues like this; bursts of all out sonic attack alternating with passages of shimmering guitar..probably my favourite track from an exceptionally strong list. 'Eye of Horus' brings an eastern motif to proceedings, the guitar recreating the sound of an Egyptian bazaar over some equally middle eastern sounding percussion. This short track is followed by the last, and the longest, 'Helios Hyperion'. A lone guitar is joined by some shimmering cymbals and simple, pulsating bass line before the wah-wahs kick in. The track becomes denser and denser as it progresses and it's not long before the wah-wah is replaced by a solid wall of psych fuzz. It has the feel of a Sula Bassana space-rock epic; the guitar chasing meteors across the night sky....when it lets rip it is huge! It's gotta be said that these guys know their onions....the sheer magnitude and power is impressive and expansive. Where have these guys been!

Australia is producing some absolutely amazing psych/fuzz bands at the moment; HWCT, Mother Mars, Aver and now Comacozer can be added to the list. This is a great album...full of energy, attitude and enough fuzz to keep the most jaded of psych heads happy. I'm seriously hoping that these guys get some decent exposure and become as big as they wanna get. This is a worthy addition to the already long list of fantastic releases this year...and we're only in March. The 'Deloun Sessions'vinyl can be purchased via the Headspin webstore or from the band's Bandcamp page where the download can also be found.