Hour of Power 12/15/12 (playlist)

Highlights from the week of 12/09/12 - 12/15/12

1. Who's To Blame (Hour of 13 / 333) 2012
2. Outrun (DSW / Dust Storm Warning) 2012
3. Queen of the Night (Cpt. Kronos) 2012
4. Deliverance (Corrosion of Conformity / Deliverance) 1994
5. The Dead Still Ride (From Beyond / The Color Out of Space EP) 2012
6. Tribe of the Cosmic Crow Giant (Spectral Haze / ST Demo) 2012
7. Demeter's Grief (Alunah / White Hoarhound) 2012
8. Pitti Plasch Anoraknarok (Voltron / Kaventsmann) 2012
9. Horrible Nights (Moss / Moss' Horrible Night) 2013
10. Deathlike (Ancient VVisdom / Deathlike) 2013
11. House of Death (Witchcoven) 2012

Hour of Power 12/08/12 (playlist)

Highlights from the week of 12/02/12 - 12/08/12

1. Hexagram (From Beyond / The Color Out of Space EP) 2012
2. Mexico (Five Horse Johnson / The Taking of Blackheart) 2012
3. Call the Police (Thin Lizzy / Shades of a Blue Orphanage) 1972
4. Forging an Astral Void (Spectral Haze / ST demo) 2012
5. The Moles of a Dying Race - Part 1 (Blue Aside / The Moles of a Dying Race) 2012
6. Come and Get It (Blue Cheer / Outsideinside) 1968
7. Through Dead Black Eyes (Albino Python) 2012
8. Horsepuncher (Lord of the Grave / Green Vapour) 2012
9. Under The Sun (Black Rainbows / Carmina Diabolo) 2010
10. Against the Storm (The Shooters / Planet of the Black Sun) 2012
11. The Deal (Truckfighters / Gravity X) 2005

Spectral Haze - ST demo (album review)

Spectral Void are a Heavy Psych band from Oslo, Norway that play "Psyched Out Doom Rock Rituals", according to their own Facebook page.  One might call the style they play "Mood Music for Sorcerers."

"Forging an Astral Void" kicks off with a riff drenched in reverb that recalls "Ego the Living Planet" by Monster Magnet.  Wild calls and howls rain from the smoky astral void as the band moves through a series of improvised sections.

Second number "Kali Magick" is a tremolo heavy slow mover that builds a house of doom from an early electric Muddy Waters / John Lee Hooker delta blues foundation.  The rhythm shambles and thumps through the foetid depths of cyclopean gambrels layered with gibbous effect-laden guitar.  While many bands pay lyrical homage to H.P. Lovecraft, few actually capture the eldritch mood of his stories.

The opening of the next track "Kashf (Gaining Familiarity with Things Unseen Behind the Veils)" takes the mood of "Kali Magic" and does away with the effects, becoming more of a straight ahead slow jam until about five and a half minutes in when the band decides to hook the listener after gaining his trust by turning the eldritch meter up to 11, taking the listener on a journey through unknown Kadath.

"Tribe of the Cosmic Crow Giant" is a blow your hair back cruise through the endless reaches of space in the best Hawkwindian tradition.  It's the most structured song on the 4 track demo for sure, and the go to number for those looking to rock out.

All in all, the demo is successful in capturing a specific mood or theme in sound, that which can be described as 'cosmic sorcery'.  And like fellow Scandinavian psychedelic magicians Saturnalia Temple, they do it earnestly and they do it well.

Highlights include: "Forging an Astral Void" and "Tribe of the Cosmic Crow Giant"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 33:38

From: Oslo, Norway

Genre: Psychedelic, Doom, Sludge, Space Rock, Stoner

Reminds me of: Dr. Strange comics, Hawkwind, Monster Magnet, Saturnalia Temple

Release Date: September 21, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: The new (un)official soundtrack for cosmic battles with Baron Mordo, Shuma Gorath or the dread Dormammu!