Review: Comacozer - Kalos Eidos Skopeo

I bloody love Comacozer...ever since I first heard their 'Deloun Sessions' EP I have seriously dug their brand of fuzzy, spacey doom and when they followed that with the ace 'Astra Planeta' (read my reviews of those here and here)..well, that just cemented things firmly in place, and they are damn nice fellas as well. The good news is that they have a new album looming large on the horizon, once again released on vinyl by Headspin Records, and it is another doozy! 'Kalos Eidos Skopeo' isn't released until October 1st but pre-orders are up on the Comacozer Bandcamp page.

The album spans a little more than 50 minutes but has only the four tracks. Opener 'Axis Mundi' gets us into the right groove from the get-go...hazy, slow riffs circle like birds of prey riding the thermals and there is an undercurrent of pure fuzz that embeds itself in your brain and won't be shifted. At the five minute mark some sublime psychedelic guitar enters the ring....and it is sublime; sonorous and ringing clear, it adds some pure class to the bedrock of solid, buzzing heaviness. Spacey effects background the guitar and the result is a track in which one can truly get lost....sit back and spark up a bigg'un 'cos you ain't going nowhere! The guitar morphs as the track progresses, the rich, clear notes slowly becoming distorted and the band's doom roots begin to show. It is pretty damned awesome stuff! 'Nystagmus' follows (Nystagmus is uncontrolled eye movement) and this time around the chiming psych guitar opens the track accompanied by some cosmic synth effects. It has an eastern feel to it that conjures visions of far off places and once again the listener is seduced by the heavy bliss of Comacozer. Obviously things are gonna get heavier and when it does it gets really heavy..the riffs get slow and massive and the whole mood changes from one of exotic psychedelia to dense doom that is the sonic equivalent of a black hole. 'Hylonomus' (an extinct reptile fact fans) starts with another, more obvious, eastern melody before being replaced by more of that wonderful psych guitar that rings clear and true, creating a vibe of calmness and peace. Things come to stop about nine minutes in and you genuinely expect it all to open up into another onslaught of fuzzy doom, but instead the guitar continues ploughing the psych furrow but there is a palpable rise in tension and intensity..it's not gonna be long and true enough it all hits like a tidal wave breaking on the unsuspecting shore. The tempo is too fast to call this doom, but the riffs are heavy and the drums are pummeled like they've never been pummeled before...it is huge! The album is closed by 'Enuma Elish' (Babylonian creation myth apparently) and opens with more psych guitar with an undercurrent of synth that sounds like waves caressing the shore. The guitar is particularly rich in wah-wah and the result is an atmosphere of laid back calmness, the spacey effects adding to this feeling of beatific bliss - calming the restless soul and is a balm for the fevered brow and so it is all the more jolting when the barrage of riffs suddenly hits. The aprupt change in tempo and intensity is thrilling and viscerally exciting..it genuinely raises the pulse and for old heads like me it produces a knowing smile and a murmured 'hell, yeah'. Brilliant stuff!

Comacozer are unlike any other band out there at the moment...they mix angelic, meditative psychedelia with heavy-as-fuck riffs with pure artistry and nous. The music seamlessly segues from heavenly passages of crystal clear guitar to intense broadsides of roiling riffs and thunderous drums. For my money, this is the best yet from Comacozer, and that is saying a lot bearing in mind the quality of their output so far. As mentioned pre-orders are up for the ltd edition vinyl and CD, as well as the download on the Comacozer Bandcamp page here and will no doubt be up on the Headspin webstore very soon. In the meantime, get yer ears around the first track from the album 'Axis Mundi':