Phaze Your Fears is one of two new Øresund Space Collective albums. This one is available in a vinyl edition of 500, plus the album is available as a digital download. The music was recorded in September 2010 during the same sessions as those released on the Entering Into The Space Country album, and features members of The Univerzals, First Band From Outer Space My Brother The Wind, Gösta Berlings Saga, Gas Giant, Claus Bohling (veteran guitarist from Hurdy Gurdy, Secret Oyster, and Elektrum), and OSC organizer Scott “Dr Space” Heller.
Side A consists of the 20+ minute title track and features Johan Dahlstrom and Mathias Danielsson on guitar. Now this is space rock you can dance to! The band set a great groove and jam away. The guitars and rhythms have a bit of a Grateful Dead vibe at first though the synths take it all into deep space. Around the 9 minute mark the guitarists shift gears and transition to a more classic hard rock style, with Dahlstrom and Danielsson’s dual guitars in killer attack mode. I’m really diggin’ this. After a while the mood calms, the guitars jamming lightly and electronic soundscapes whooshing and swirling about, though the pace gets gradually but increasingly intense until we’re rocking hard in space again. An excellent combination of space rock and 70s styled hard rock.
The 24+ minute Ear Meat takes up all of Side B and features triple guitars from Claus Bohling, Stefan Krey and Nickolas Hill. The track opens with a variety of guitar sounds, at least one in gorgeous soundscape mode. The guitars and electronics jam along lightly and it’s all very atmospheric. The bass and drums set the primary groove and the music gradually builds in pace and intensity until the band are rocking hard. We get more than our share of tasty ripping guitar solos though I hear a lot of emphasis on atmosphere and melody. Around the 11 minute mark the jam pulls back and the musicians focus on soundscape creation that supports a spoken word bit in Russian. The sounds and soundscapes get briefly chaotic, really building in intensity and you can just feel the coming explosion and then SMACK!!!… we’re blazing along and I’m reminded of Ozric Tentacles at their most red hot rocking, though OSC also inject a bit of that Grateful Dead in space vibe.
Both sides of the album rock hard but each has a distinct flavor, which is of course good when you’ve got two side long jams. And as usual OSC prove that they can keep their lengthy jams sounding almost composed and hold the listeners attention throughout.
For more information you can visit the Øresund Space Collective web site at: http://www.oresundspacecollective.com
Digital downloads available at: http://oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz