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Census Of Hallucinations - "Nine Lives"

Oh yeah, it's again time to get some positive vibes from one of the best bands in the international underground music network. As the title suggests, this is already the ninth album by Census of Hallucinations. There is remarkable improvement compared to the last album (The Eighth Dwarf). The production is even more successful, some of the songs are now better, and everything just works fine. The psychedelic level is at times really deep, but there are also some nice melodic songs (like "Mock Honesty") reminding me of the Magic Mushroom Band's lighter acid pop hits. The band magnificently keeps alive the spirit of the free festival scene, and they have taken some influences at least by Gong and Hawkwind. Manuel Göttsching styled guitar playing is apparent on a several tracks, as well. Some of the tracks sound a bit like early Porcupine Tree. There's also a nice version of the Peter Green classic "The Green Manalishi". Some of the tracks are more ambient oriented and mainly played with synthesisers. There's also some humour on the album from time to time, as well as weird samples and effected narration. There are 18 tracks on the CD altogether most of which are rather short. In my opinion, Tim Jones and Terri-B combine the ideology of the hippy age and modern technology very well. The playing, singing and drum programming is flawless, and they have used guest musicians when ever needed. So this is a very varied album with many different tones and it keeps you tightly in its grip. The album is just suitably hallucinatory to make it interesting in normal as well as altered states of consciousness. This must be one of the best underground releases of 2004! By the way, congratulations on the 10th birthday of Stone Premonitions label.

Reviewed by Santtu - The Psychotropic Zone