On Trial - "New Day Rising" (Delerium 1999, CD 071 )
From Aural Innovations #7 (July 1999)
This is the 3rd CD by the Danish psych band, On Trial. The band has been around since 1987 and has released a limited edition single and LP in the late 80's of the hard rock style before fully realizing their psychedelic potential. The previous two CD's (70 Kilometers of Underwater Nothingness, Kaptain! in 1995; Head Entrance in 1997) were very heavy and sort of a mixture of Roky Erikson meets Monster Magnet 'Spine of God' era. Way out there. This new CD sees the band bring in a bit more 60's psych style, especially on the first two numbers Flashin'ghast and As if, where the organ sound (only used minimally on the other songs) is very prominent in the mix. Pot of Gold and Long Time Gone are the most aggressive numbers on the CD and quite heavy and some great far out guitar sounds. That is where On Trial excel the most, in the use of the multiple effected guitar sound of both Morten and Henrik. Doubt is a slow, very spacey number highlighting Bo's great voice. The feeling of the guitar playing and the way they layer it all together is masterful! Cast it Aside is a very heavy and fast song that really gets the audience going live! Sleeper is another slow moody song with some excellent spacey guitar interplay between Morten and Henrik and the use of some backwards guitar. Excellent song. Do You See Her is really a trip back to the 60's, with a middle eastern feeling organ sound and highly effected guitar sound. New Day Rising is the true psychedelic masterpiece of the CD, spacing out for nearly 11 minutes. The slow eastern sounding beginning fades into a full-on psychedelic guitar battle that begins at around 5 minutes. Outside the Door closes the CD, as it has on all of the band's CD's. It is a strange piece of a woman's voice from some TV show (I think) that the band mixes in backwards instruments and guitars. Quite strange. Anyway, an incredible and highly recommended psychedelic rock album with some great spaced out guitars. Let's hope there will be another one from this great band.
Distributed by Delerium Records.
Delerium also maintains an On Trial web site.
Reviewed by Scott Heller