Review: Girl Sweat Pleasure Temple Ritual Band - Hyper Rituals

We're what? 2 and a half months into 2018 and already the list of possible 'Albums of the Year' is pretty sizeable. To that list (and I'm guessing near the very top) we can place this slab of wonderfully unhinged noise from Girl Sweat Pleasure Temple Ritual Band. 'Hyper Rituals', brought to us by the lovely people over at Evil Hoodoo, is one of those records that, and if you'll excuse the particularly English cultural reference, is a bit like Marmite - you'll either love it or hate it! Needless to say I'm firmly in the former camp. That polarisation of opinion is in itself usually an indication of quality..a record that makes you say 'meh' and shrug your shoulders is bereft of that very thing that makes music so special - that ability to thrill, to exhilarate, to shake the very foundations of what you believe is 'good'. This release does just that - the sheer visceral power and at times dissonant noise is like riding all the attractions at Alton Towers...at the same time.

There are just the three tracks on the album but take up the best part of 35 minutes. The first, 'Mantra Of The Pleasure Temple' opens with a cacophony of noise, all disembodied shrieks, feedback and squealing electronics, before an impassioned voice tells us "The Cosmos says...you're gonna bleed". From there on in we are treated to something that is truly special. Channelling the swirling spacerock of Hawkwind via some off-kilter krautrock rhythms and filtered through the noisy gauze of Terminal Cheesecake, it is a thing of majestic proportions. As if there was not enough going on the skronk of saxophone can be heard giving it a Very Things vibe....less jazz and more jizz. Only last year's Plastic Crimewave Syndicate album has come anywhere near this level of freeform invention and sheer 'out there' creativity. 'Rite To Power' opens with some tribalistic drums and primal moans and cries. It is when the track really gets going when things get interesting; the drums remain primal but the atavistic voices are replaced by more saxophone and strident vocals. Whilst still ostensibly rooted in space rock this is noise par excellence. It has a vibe of anarchy and mischief but still remains true to its structure. About halfway through things come to a halt, heralded by a maniacal female laugh but quicker than blinking it all starts up again but more structured, the anarchy replaced by an almost krautish rhythm and a deranged vision of seventies heavy psych....simply glorious stuff! 'The Incantation Of Pleasure' closes the album - starting with some mad organ work (reminded me of Dreyfus in that Pink Panther movie when he is holed up in a castle with his deathray) before settling into a whirl of psychedelic guitars and primevil yelps. As it progresses it gets faster and more intense...like a real chemical rush...and the introduction of muted vocals do little to negate the sheer adrenaline spikes of the music. This is huge...like, really huge...bigger than the biggest thing from the Planet Big. When the rush is curtailed we are faced with the comedown of shamanic chanting and more skronky sax, but the comedown doesn't last long, we are soon back on that rollercoaster of discordant noise and the track plays out like Roxy Music if they were more interested in drugs than fannying around in platforms. This album is fantastic...If they decided to ever build their own Pleasure Temple I would happily cast aside my athiest inclinations and pray prostrate at their altar....it is that good.

In these days of generic psych and twee indie and slightly smelly stoner rock it does the old soul good when an album like this appears...an album on which the band have firmly stamped their own identity and, more importantly, have not pandered to 'genres' or 'tags' - they play what they wanna play and play it hard. That said...if psychedelic noise is yer thang then you've just hit the motherlode. 'Hyper Rituals' is released on Evil Hoodoo on 24th March but pre-orders are live now on the Evil Hoodoo webstore here.