The Kings of Frog Island - s/t
(Elektrohasch Records 2005, 107)
The Kings of Frog Island - s/t
(Elektrohasch Records 2005, 107)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: September 2005
The Kings of Frog Island is a side project of Josiah guitarist, Mat Bethancourt. As always, Elektrohasch maintains a high standard and releases yet another very cool CD. In fact, I think this is cooler than any of the Josiah records (maybe). While some of the tracks are very Monster Magnet inspired, including singing like Dave, it is a great psychedelic rock record. The opening track is very much like the hard driving Josiah stuff but The Longest Hour is a bit different and I hear the riff from Gravity Well by Monster Magnet used in this track. It has a great killer groove though. Leone is a short and very cool instrumental acoustic track. This leads into the excellent acoustic track, The River. Too bad the track ends so short as it would be perfect for a jam. The band begins to pick it up again with Slate Blue Sky, but this is probably the weakest track on the CD. Psychomania features some killer wah-fuzz guitar and is a very cool track with a highly repetitive chorus. Amphibia builds up slowly but never really goes anywhere…unfortunately. Save Me has a down and dirt guitar sound and a grooving bass line. The song fades into acoustic guitar and echoed vocals before taking off again. Beyond the Revolution is very Monster Magnet inspired but a great track. The CD ends with a reprise of the beautiful Leone track. Pretty cool stuff.
For more information you can visit the Elektrohasch Records web site at: http://www.elektrohasch.de.
Reviewed by Scott Heller