Here at SonicAbuse we love our trippy, heavily psychedelic rock music, so when a press release promises to fill our heads “with more fuzz than [we] can handle”, you know we’re going to pay attention. In the case of Howling Giant, the band win points from the off with their delightfully kitschy artwork which recalls the tattered covers of sci-fi novels from the fifties (the sort of thing that kids of a certain generation absorbed with rabid delight from the local library) and potent, herbal-infused song titles such as ‘clouds of smoke’. A four track EP with cited influences including Red Fang, Baroness, Rush and Melvins, ‘Black Hole Space Wizard part 1’ (chalk up another few marks for the sweet title), is every bit the trip it promises to be and, for once, the press release hyperbole is fully justified.
Opening with the rippling intro of ‘mothership’, Howling Giant pitch huge riffs and wheezing organ against powerhouse percussion and reverb-laden vocals. The result is undoubtedly mired in the seventies (so much so, you can practically smell the patchouli) yet boosted by a powerful production that makes you feel every furious riff, and a progressive edge that sees the track veer off down all sorts of unexpected sonic paths throughout its five minute run time. It’s a gloriously indulgent reminder of youthful years spent fervently reading every liner note on an LP sleeve as the music filled your head with wonder, and, as all good music should, it transports the listener away from the mundane reality of life, to a different, darker plane of reality where we’re all transported into Arthur C Clarke’s obelisk. This is certainly true of ‘Exodus earth’, a somnolent march through lysergic fields built around the sort of soul-crushing groove that has an unstoppable momentum that is all its own. Apparently the moment in which the titular space wizard wreaks destruction upon humanity, ‘Dirtmouth’ also wreaks destruction upon your speakers with an unholy bass sound so evil it’s amazing that Satan himself didn’t rise up to patent it. A full-on, fuzzed up nightmare of a track, ‘Dirtmouth’ is 100% awesome and will undoubtedly spend a great deal of time wrecking heads the world over. The EP ends with ‘clouds of smoke’, a billowing psyche-doom epic that will have listeners reaching for thesaurus simply so that they can have a suitably eclectic vocabulary to describe the multi-faceted wonders that lie within. That overwhelming wall of bass is still there, but so, also, is some deft lead guitar work that recalls David Gilmour with its stately elegance, and the track moves from wide-eyed wonder to 1000-yard-stare insanity over the course of its seven minute run time.
Dammit, I’m a sucker for this sort of stuff. From the stunning artwork to the arcing feedback of the guitars, Howling Giant sound like they come from an alternate reality where Pink Floyd spent their twilight years collaborating with Mastadon and, thanks to a suitably pulpy story inspiring the lyrics, this EP has the conceptual heft to truly capture the attention. Unencumbered by any sort of concern about what anyone else out there is doing, Howling Giant sit in a universe of their own making and I cannot wait for part two. An EP that is perfectly suited for vinyl, ‘Black Hole Space Wizard part 1’ is many shades of awesome and is an essential purchase.
10/10
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