It took me several listens to arrive at a most disconcerting conclusion: the multi-layered vocals on ‘going home’ sound exactly like The Offspring slowed down to a Black Sabbath pace. And not only that, but it works… fantastically well.
You see Trippy Wicked and the cosmic children of the knight (for it is they) are a sludge/doom band with a difference – their music brims with an unholy positivity that would fly in the face of all perceived doom wisdom if it wasn’t for the monstrous, corrosive riffs that threaten to swallow the album whole like some imploding supernova at the heart of the record. The result – a mix of Sabbath, Kyuss and Monster Magnet, amped up and shot through with the occasional (and unlikely) ray of sunshine, usually in the form of a biting classic rock style solo that bathes the acidic riffs in a warm balm that brings a soothing element to otherwise familiarly distressing territory.
Enough of the mixed metaphors, anyhow – there must be more than one writer revolving in their graves and several thousand grammarians – so on with the show… ‘Going home’ opens with its title track, a fuzz-laden beast that opens with the toms taking a hellish pounding and the guitars grinding away somewhere near the earth’s core. The shift in tempo that hits as the main riff finally appears sees things head in a Kyuss direction, the riffs dry as a bone and the vocals, as referenced earlier, sounding eerily like The Offspring played at the wrong speed on a record deck. It’s a great introduction to the band and a little exploration uncovers the fact that the record was mixed by Tony Reed (he of St Vitus fame) which explains why it sounds so unutterably MASSIVE. After such a start the band ‘up the stakes’ for track two, a boast that transpires to be entirely accurate as they launch into a beautiful, wah-inflected riff that pans across the speakers and top it all off with a trippy solo that is enough to make a Sabbath fan’s eyes well up in nostalgic joy. ‘Go outside’ is a faster paced blast that is part Sabbath, part Reef (without the irritating vocals but with some gloriously unhinged handclaps) that sets itself apart with unhelpful time signatures and a horn section (no really)… maybe best to listen to this one, it kinda defies rational explanation. ‘Ain’t gonna end well’ is a gloriously up-tempo boogie with a riff that trips the light fantastic before being battered to death by the rest of the band, only to emerge bruised and shaking at the other end.
Having set things up nicely the rest of the album has its vibe firmly in place and builds on the dusty charm of the first act, ‘I want another drink’ kicks off with an old-school blues riff before the clouds gather and a riff that is pure Iommi is ground out whilst a distorted voice (that sounds uncannily like Zakk Wylde) growls out the words of the title. The addition of horns later in the track is more of a surprise, but by no means an unwelcome one and this is the sort of track that should surely become a festival anthem for mud-soaked urchins the world over if justice does indeed exist on the planet. ‘Hillbilly moonshine’ is the sound of ZZ Top being molested in a southern bar by banjo-toting, buck-toothed boys over a riff that’s heavier than the average hangover associated with the titular beverage and then ‘pour me another one’ kicks in with a savage, grinding groove that just begs you to drive along wide, open roads in a convertible whilst playing it. ‘Change your mind’ slows the pace substantially and we’re back to the rolling thunder of toms and a grooving track of pure sludge metal heaven, the riffs scraping through the concrete whilst the vocals prove the lighter touch that keeps the atmosphere from becoming poisonous. Final track ‘home’, the end of this particular trip, sees the band break out the Mallatron for some brilliant, quasi-symphonic chords that close the record out with the briefest of moments of blissful calm – and then it’s gone, fading into the dust like a ‘shroom hallucination.
Trippy Wicked have crafted an album that is beautifully timeless. It could just as easily have been recorded in the seventies, the eighties as last year and it is the gleeful absence of any time-specific flourishes that make this such an honest, down-to-earth rock ‘n’ roll record. The band play with spirit and fire. They are inventive, but in their use of their instruments, not studio trickery. It’s easy to imagine if you see them live they’d sound exactly the same, and that purity of sound is such a rarity these days. As for the record, well it flows beautifully. ‘Going home’ truly is a journey, the soundtrack to a road trip you have yet to take, or the memory of one you undertook years ago with friends who have long faded into the obscurity of middle age and memory. This is a life-affirming, trippy, beautiful blast of an album that truly deserves a place in your collection.
You can buy the album in a variety of formats including (if you must) digital, which is available here on Bandcamp in the pay what you want format. Be generous – this is a band that ore than deserve your money.
Don’t believe us? Check the music out here:
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