Tasty Fanzine E.P review

Spiral 25 are a psychedelic rock band from Oxford, playing music described by the local Oxford press, if the blurb accompanying the submitted CD is to be believed, ‘slow motion narcotic groove rock’.

Oh good, that’s cleared that up then. What the fuck is slow motion narcotic groove rock? It is, it turns out, down beat rock and roll at its finest. All dirty bass, fuzzy guitar, slow and meandering drum beat pushing it all along; very black, very industrial, like the noise you’d expect to hear ringing out from the forges as the rock gods first cast the world. You won’t dance to it, you’d certainly struggle to mosh to it, but you will be able to sway to it and, if you like your vocals long, drawn out and echoed, with your accompanying soundtrack distorted and dirty, you’ll probably quite like it. I did. 7/10

Jim Johnston

Tasty Fanzine

Dolphins surfing the Milky Way

Anybody with half a mind to come off second best in an argument with a solid wall of psychedelic sound could do a lot worse than checking out Oxford’s own Spiral 25.

This currently unsigned act have been plying their trade in technicolour noisemaking since early 2008, and their four-track EP, released last year through digital download, is a minor tour-de-force that harks back to the heavier psych/space rock bands of the late 1960s.

If Hawkwind had enlisted the services of Jim Morrison at any time during their 500+ years on the planet, the result might’ve sounded a little like Spiral 25’s E.P. But less of the comparisons, this is here and now and if this is anything to go by, Spiral 25 is delivering the goods on the current UK psychedelic scene.

The EP kicks off with ‘Let the Light Shine On’, the title being a possible a nod to Pink Floyd’s ‘Let There be More Light’, which is a mind-shattering meld of grinding guitars and bass, interspersed by the sonic squeals of Dolphins surfing the Milky Way. A near impenetrable fug of scorching sound is summoned from the same deep, dark recess the Edgar Broughton Band’s Wasa Wasa dwells in, and it doesn’t let up for the remaining three tracks.

Following the near darkness that is ‘Let the Light Shine On’, we’re once again rocketed into the blackest depths of space for ‘Signals’, a pulsating bassline being our guide through the furthest reaches of the cosmos that brings to mind Pink Floyd’s earliest interstellar excursions. And there’s no ray of light for the remaining two tracks, ‘Shadows In Line’ and ‘Today’s Future (Tomorrow’s Past)’, the latter a relentless industrial grind punctuated by a rasping harmonica distress call.

Spiral 25’s E.P. is a confident and thoroughly accomplished slice of darkest psychedelic space rock, heavy on distortion and fuzzed-out guitars and bass. The fact this band remain unsigned is something that needs remedying sooner, as opposed to later.

An acoustic live EP, a second record towards the end of the summer, and a collaboration with Fruits de Mer Records are all on the cards for Spiral 25 in 2010. HFoS hope to have an interview with the band up in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile you can get a hold of Spiral 25’s debut EP via various sources by going here

Head Full of Snow

of the best new psych bands I've heard in aeons. And I've heard a lot.

Spiral 25 make no bones about it. They're a psychedelic rock band. It says so in the first sentence of their bio. Of course than can conjure up all sorts of horrors involving paisley pattern, shoegazing and the bloody awful racket made by the likes of House Of Love. Lucky for us, Spiral 25 look a bit further afield to the likes of the 13th Floor Elevators, coming up to date with The Warlocks and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, rubbing up against the mighty Hawkwind.

I'll ignore the fact that they seem to like The Stone Roses and The Verve, and concentrate instead on the great swirling riffs that scythe their way through tunes like the title track and 'Signals'. They've only been together since 2008 as Spiral 25, but I'm going to put my neck on the block by claiming they're one of the best new psych bands I've heard in aeons. And I've heard a lot. Mind you, I said that about the Green Telescope back in the last century. However, we can put that one down to a bad dose.

Rock this through a good set of headphones and you can almost feel the spirit of Dave Wyndorf smiling down from 1995 going that's my boys with a lascivious lick of his moustache. This is good, this is. So well done, Joe Chapman, Russell Denham, Chris Monger, Andy Proper and Sunny Singh.

zeitgeist