Hey Fuzzers,
I know, it’s been a while since we’ve published anything, life’s been a bit crazy, and I was quite busy the last couple of years, and using my spare time and energy to organise cool gigs with friends, here in Hamburg, Germany. Things seem to settle down, and the venue we were using closed shop :'( so I’m gonna be a bit more active here, keep an eye out for some nice stuff coming up, but enough about me, as here’s the main reason I’m writing today:
The crazy occult psych rockers from London, Black Helium are back with a new LP “The Animals Are Coming”, released last Friday (June 20th) through Riot Season. If you have been following More Fuzz for a while, you won’t be surprised that I got out of my cave to spread the word about this, I freaking love this band, their music pushes all my buttons, thick tone, vocals drenched in reverb, killer riffs, catchy hooks, and the right dose of trippy freakouts.
I reviewed their second album “The Wholly Other”, and ranked it #2 of my top in 2020, as I just kept it on repeat the whole year. Even 5 years later, I still find myself coming back to it very regularly. In between, they’ve also released another amazing LP, “UM” in 2023 (still wonder why I didn’t review it). I also finally managed to catch them live, twice, for some epictasticly fulfilling sets. So if you’ve got any chance of catching them live, DO IT!
After their Sabath-worshipping Debut, their sound-defining second album, and the confirmation of that with the third one, it seems the Londoners wanted to experiment a bit more, and with this 4th LP, take us on their sonic exploration through the galaxy, delivering a quite versatile yet consistent album, keeping on pushing their boundaries while staying true to their core.
How is the sound?
As their press release describes: “Imagine Amon Duul II jamming with Tonny Iommi plus Carl Wilson on vocals.“, which is pretty much on point, but let’s get deeper into it…
Opening the festivities with the longest track on this album (11:44, ouw yes!), they start gentle this time, on a nostalgic vibe that feels like a fluffy and warm blanket in winter, to get you comfy for the trip ahead. And just when you start to let yourself go, they really kick off with a catchy riff, just before melting the two together and take it on a fuzzy riffadelic journey from here, as if they’re telling you “buckle up, don’t resist, enjoy the ride, and see you on the other side”.
They keep the riff coming back and forth, bring back the nostalgic vibe, go at it again, freak out in a spacey outburst ater 5min, mesmerising and enticing, playing with the tempo and the tension, keeping us on the hook in this noisey cloud, letting us wonder when they’ll bring back the riff. Spoiler alert: they don’t, choosing instead to push their jam further and freakier, until it reaches some dimentional barrier, letting it end with echoing effects that many of us concert-goers are familiar with.
It might be bold to use such a track as an opener, most bands would use that as a closer… I guess this is a statement of what the band’s core is, a reminder that most of our heavy psychedelic scene is not only about kickass riffs or hazy melodies, but that freaky jams are at least as much engraven in our DNA, if not more.
That said, here comes the second track, ‘Saviour Destroyer’, starting with tribal drumming and haunting vocals, cues in a dragging rhythm and reverberated guitar, almost cliché, right? And 2 min later it just erupts in a heavy fuzzy riff for a while, before going back and forth a bit, and then pushing it further, taking it up even another notch, melting these contrasting parts together to reach a fuzzalicious climax.
Damn, not even 2 songs in, and listening to this album makes me feel like these guys are showing us how it’s supposed to be done, all the while keeping it laid-back and easy-going. This is all carefully thought-out and ingenuously crafted, a perfect middle ground between intuition and intention.
Not easy to follow-up on that, as these two first tracks were pretty intense, but that’s where Black Helium show another kind of know-how. They just switch the mood completely, let the steam settle back down, pulling out a very krauty instrumental 4min track out of their Mary Poppinsesque sleeve to give us a bit of a breather, while displaying their undeniable sense of groove.
The intro of ‘They Have Bodies’ might let you think we’ll stay a bit longer in Krautrock territory, with a very synth-sounding bassline, just to immediately break into a melancholic hazy dream. The first half feels like they’ve reached a sort of end of their journey, bringing things down to a rest. It has a very contemplative touch that slowly soothes the listener, mostly induced by the echoing vocals, and even if the groove from the intro comes back, it is only in a dulled version, fitting the overall atmosphere. And yet here they take it up again around the 4min mark, with the guitar foreshadowing a change in the weather, the drums joining in the build-up, to bring back the same groove, on the guitar this time, in a more dynamic version, all three instruments seeming at once a bit more awake, while the singing keeps the same melancholic vibe, resulting in a mellower track full of finesse and beauty.
The fuzzed-out echoing guitar, almost sounding like a modular synthesizer, at the beginning of “Up On A Hill” might let you think we’re heading back to something more krauty, only to be (happily) deceived again. This was the sound of a noisey echoing guitar heading deep into neo-psychedelia, and it is perfectly executed, with its catchy chorus and laid-back verses, in a way that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Black Angels album…
By now you might know better but to expect them to leave it at that, and so shortly after the 2:30 mark, they kick it with a short ramp up, and krank the fuzz, bringing a nasty riff to the front, before falling back impromptuously into the neo-psychedelia of the first half for a last round before calling it off.
‘The Horror Mask’ and its 10+ minutes rounds off this mesmerising journey in the perfect way, starting slow and gentle, warm and groovy, the smooth bassline, melancholic vocals, playful drumming and sunny guitar licks puts us in a comfy mood again, somewhere between Yawning Man and early Tame Impala. It doesn’t last long, as they soon start drifting into the void for a while, as if losing foot from reality. The bass slowly anchers the band, the drums following closely, letting the guitar spin and swirl to bring back the jam feeling from the opener, slowly picking up the tempo, achieving full thrust mid-track, and taking the rest of the track to enjoy the blissful purity of this jam state, losing themselves in an endless deep dive through time and space.
Why is this album worth listening to?
- Black Helium keeps on mixing the influences of their holy forefathers and pushing it further into unknown sonic territories.
- The overall sound is still damn right on point, no matter which atmosphere Black Helium builds, they make it ring perfectly.
- With this 4th LP, the Londoners manage to keep it refreshing, expanding their sound, while confirming what they’ve achieved until now.
In what situation you should listen to this album?
- Out in the wilderness, celebrating the summer solstice around a bonfire, contemplating your soul looking back at you from the flames.
The post Black Helium – The Animals Are Coming Review appeared first on More Fuzz.
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