The Cosmic Dead :: The Cosmic Dead

Scotland joins the space race with The Cosmic Dead‘s interstellar cassette The Cosmic Dead (Who Can You Trust? Records, 2011). Long flights need long jams: 4 tracks clocking in at 80 minutes full of muscular hypnotic space rock drone, The Cosmic Dead
moves between Acid Mothers-like jamming, psych rock heft and bottom heavy Kosmische thump and trance. It’s not for the weak, but certainly not impenetrable. Rather than simply grafting the long Krautrock freakouts on top of the heavier, psych-fueled space rock, The Cosmic Dead find the places where the two meet and exploit them for all they’re worth. For all it’s excess, The Cosmic Dead never veers off into uncontrollable bombast: there’s a firm grip on the reins through the whole affair, jam after jam.

The Black Rabbit takes its time walking you to the launch pad before heading into full flight somewhere around the 3 minute mark for a deliriously unfolding stroll along the edge. Spice Melange Spectrum is a slower, gloomier work out that still keeps one eye on the heart of the sun as it marches forward full of distorted low-end grind determined to fill up any black hole. Or leave one. The Slow Death of The Infinite Godhead builds on a more Motorik beat, escalating in its own sweet time with some Velvety-drone/guitar oscillations. Opus Father Sky, Mother Earth eats up one side as easily as it eats planets. It’s an almost 40 minute caravan that grooves its way through more than one system without ever devolving to headless meandering. Rolling drums ebb and flow not only driving the trip, but giving a smoky point of reference in case you’re worried your tether has come undone from the mothership.

The Cosmic Dead is a monster of an outing that The Cosmic Dead keep airborne and orbiting even when it seems the whole thing should collapse under its own mind-warping weight. They weave in plenty of places to stop and replenish the tanks or just enjoy the view out there…where ever you end up. Or think you’ll end up. The cassette sheen adds a layer of insulation that doesn’t keep you out as much as it keeps some of your oxygen in so you can survive the flight—like a good thin blue line should. Buckle up and hear what they can unearth, even in places where none exists. A highly recommended soundtrack to the birth of planets…even yours.

The Cosmic Dead is available via The Cosmic Dead.

The Slow Death of The Infinite Godhead :: The Cosmic Dead :: The Cosmic Dead (Who Can You Trust? Records, 2011)