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Black Moon Circle

Psychedelic Spacelord (Vinyl)

Review by Gary Hill

This is such a classy release. First off, the heavy red vinyl record is just a particularly nice product. The thing is, they tuck a copy of the disc on CD into the package, too. That makes for a well rounded item in terms of the media form. The music here is potent space rock that has peaks and valleys. It is just one song across both sides of the record and the entire CD. That said, on the CD version it is a seamless cut, while it's split on the record.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2018  Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2018.

Track by Track Review
Side A
     
Psychedelic Spacelord (Part One)

This rises up very gradually from ambient elements, seeming spacey and a bit creepy as it moves forward. It begins to coalesce into more of a psychedelic rock jam band arrangement as it continues forward. Signs of space rock emerge as this evolves. It eventually shifts toward a space rock meets stoner rock kind of groove that's so cool. The vocals come in over the top of that arrangement. Those vocals really bring a lot of that stoner rock thing to the table. The instrumental jam that follows seems along the lines of both Hawkwind and Oresund Space Collective. There is some killer guitar work on this along with the other instrumentation, and they really soar here. I can make out hints of the Grateful Dead a times on this, too. There is a section around the middle part of this half of the piece that makes me think of the spacey side of Jimi Hendrix a bit, too. Shortly after that they get more vocals as the killer space rock continues. I love some of the bass work later on this jam. There is good use of violin on this part of the number, as there was at other points earlier. The space rock elements really shine, too. Things get rather heavy and rocking further down this musical road. They fade things downward to end the side of the record with ambience driving the actual closing of the side.

Side B
         
Psychedelic Spacelord (Part Two)

This rises upward gradually with ambience and the sounds of the sea driving the start. Eventually the previous jam seems to come up out of this fading upward to continue where they left off when it faded down. They really create some intense moments here as they move this jam onward. It eventually drops way down for a mellow movement, but then gradually begins to build upward. The vocals return before it turns back out to full rocking, instead coming in over the slow, mellower space rock section. There are hints of stoner rock built into this part of the track, too. It works toward more rocking stuff as it continues. Violin really adds a lot to this half of the piece, too. They work through some differing movements as this piece continues. There is a particularly intense jam later with some frantic bass work. They eventually take it out in style with an evolution of that jam.

 

 
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