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From The Progressive Aspect (TPA)
Motorpsycho are back with their fourth album in as many years, 2019’s The Crucible having been followed by the “Covid years” albums The All is One (2020) and Kingdom of Oblivion (2021), and here we are presented with Ancient Astronauts. It appears that the band’s creative juices continue to flow as they are still maintaining their high standard of music making.
When I saw this album up for review I was jumping up and down with my hand in the air, shouting “Me, me!”, completely shamelessly, such is my excitement for what this band create. There is some important background information for this album, so bear with me. Alongside the previous two albums, the band were involved in two other projects, one a loose film idea developed with De Utvalgte, a Norwegian theatre group. Not really liking the “live streaming concerts” which many bands did during lockdown periods, Motorpsycho got together with De Utvalgte to see if there was a way to portray their music in a visual way. This project is still underway and in development.
The second project saw Motorpsycho play live to a dance performance by Homan Sharifi and the Impure Dance Company, called Sacrificing. Again due to restrictions at the time, the audiences were small, resulting in only several hundred being lucky enough to see it. The dance was inspired by the idea of The Rite of Spring, a piece of music which had inspired Motorpsycho’s suite N.O.X. from The All is One. These two pieces worked well together, but more music was required so two further pieces were written. This is where things tie in with this release as those two songs, Mona Lisa/Azrael and Chariots of the Sun are included here.
Now this being Motorpsycho, they did not leave it there but added a further two tracks to give us a full album of new music. It was recorded in Amber Tone studio in Oslo, Norway during the summer of 2021. Reine Fiske, due to travel restrictions at the time, was not at the studio, so for the first time in many years the three core members of the band recorded as a trio.
This recording was mainly done as live takes, with only a few overdubs and vocals added later, so we are treated to the band playing live in the studio, and this is certainly reflected in the sound and feel of the songs in a most positive way.
The four songs contained here have an overall running time of forty-three minutes, with the longest clocking in at twenty-two minutes. This epic track, Chariots of the Sun could be seen as the centre piece of the album despite being the closer. It is a notable demonstration of the perfect pacing of a long-form song, the gentler opening developing gradually over the first five-minutes before the pace begins to increase. The transition between the song’s phases is smooth and precise, as a result of being recorded live in the studio. This live feel gives the song some fire, energy and endless power, along with focus and drive as it moves forward with purpose. I previously mentioned that this piece had been written for a dance company; having now heard the song I think the interpretation would be a wonder to behold. When you hear this song I guess you’re likely to think the same.
The previous statement could also be applied to the second piece written for this dance company, Mona Lisa/Azrael beginning with an almost folk-like atmospheric feel, at times reminiscent of early King Crimson (circa In the Court of the Crimson King). Building slowly, at around four-minutes there is a shift in pace with some urgent drum tapping before – Bang! – the band explode into full fury, slightly reigning in to settle into the set rhythm of the song.
The two remaining songs are as far away from fillers as possible; the quality and standard is pure Motorpsycho. Opener The Ladder is full-on as the trio power through its six-minutes, the live feel front and centre to give the impression that these guys are going for it, and enjoying every second of it too. Track two, The Flowers of Awareness, is an atmospheric piece but with an almost menacing feel at times, as if it is going to explode at any minute, but instead it links straight into the next track.
As I stated at the beginning, I was excited to hear this album, but I hope my review does not come over as too “fanboy”; I discovered this band only a few years ago and it still amazes me that these guys – who have been around for some thirty years – can sound so fresh as they power through this rich creative seam. They have delivered another album of interestingly constructed songs, and the fact that there were two originally written for a dance company means those lucky enough to see these performance would have another perspective on the album as a whole. Another lesson on how to lead from the front from a well established band. Go on, listen to it – I do not think that Ancient Astronauts will disappoint.
Review from Soundmagnet
Ancient Astronauts is the title of the new Motorpsycho work, and the story behind the new album is no less unusual: During the pandemic, the band released two albums, but were also involved in two special projects. On the one hand in a film project by the Norwegian theater group DeUtvalgte, whose aim is to visually implement Motorpsycho's music.
The second saw the band perform live to the dance performance Sacrificing by Homan Sharifi and Impure Dance Company. Two songs from this project made it onto the new album, namely Mona Lisa/Azrael and Chariot of the Sun.
DeUtvalgte, on the other hand, found the dance performance accompanied by Motorpsycho so impressive that they also wanted to use the music for their film project. Ex-Motorpsycho member Helge "Deathprod" Sten was also in the audience and liked the music so much that he offered to produce the album. The recording was then live, apart from a few overdubs and vocals, in the summer of 2021 at the Amper Tone Studio in Oslo, but only with a cast of three people, as Reine Fiske was unable to travel from Stockholm to Oslo due to Covid travel restrictions.
The cover consists of scenes from the film project shot on an August dawn in Skottbu, Norway.
A ladder to infinity
With the appropriately titled opener The Ladder, the listener gets into the album, accompanied by spherical keyboards and ominous chorales. After about a minute the guitars join in with a wildly progressive sonic whirl. As soon as the vocals start, it becomes a bit calmer again, the song alternates between relaxed and fast moving parts. In the middle part there is extensive instrumental and psychedelic indulgence, both on guitars and on organs and the rhythm section, until the song fades away in the same way it began.
The Beauty of the Angel of Death
After the short, spacey interlude The Flower Of Awareness, the track continues with Mona Lisa/Azrael, which is introduced with epic synth strings. A sad melody in slow three-four time creates a grippingly melancholic atmosphere. The vocals float gently over the quiet and delicately played acoustic guitars. After about four minutes the song suddenly picks up speed, with jazzy drumming and hectic riffs. It has real live character and that very special jam vibe. Great!
Acoustic wide screen cinema
The finale is Chariot Of The Sun – To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Sunrise (Theme From An Imagined Movie), a 22-minute epic that makes a really good movie soundtrack and leaves the listener wondering what the end result will be film project mentioned above.
The first quarter consists of soft tones, from the sixth minute rocking riffs and twin guitar parts set in, accompanied by a shuffle rhythm and various effects, followed by crazy solo escapades. Words cannot describe this song, it is rather a landscape of sound, a cinematic instrumental marvel, an acoustic monument.
Conclusion
Motorpsycho have always been in their own league, and with Ancient Astronauts they once again deliver a complex, progressive album that piles up cinematic soundscapes and imaginary soundscapes and fires the imagination with musical finesse and variety.
9/10
(Translated by Google)
The album has been included in Rollong Stone Italian edition's list of "Discs to listen to in August 2022".
@Johnny – In repsonse to your response to my post … fair enough. I did something I never used to do, which is describe Sabbath as heavy metal. For years I'd go around saying things like "Metal really started with Motorhead" and "Punk really started with the Pistols" – typically arrogant UK-centric statements. Anyway, it seems the retrospective attribution of genre is all the rage these days, partly, I think, because of the plethora of sub-genres of all types that have arisen since the 70s, and partly because people seem to have a desire to lump all their favourite artists in their favourite genre (at least that appears to be the case in prog circles). Consequently we now hear that Kate Bush is prog, Deep Purple are metal and so on. I stand guilty of having committed this crime here – I am suitably embarrassed. Furthermore, I should admit I never got into 80s metal, and few of the 70s progenitors. You clearly had a deeper relationship with the genre.
@Johnny – I think it's a little unfair to characterise metal as being unable to cope with "odd" tunings etc. given the explosion of prog metal and that genre's musicians who seem to be obsessed with overly complicated music to the exclusion (at least as far as my personal experience is concerned) of emotion and feeling. Of course, I accept that for thousands of people this kind of music does have emotion, but to me it is the older metal, with its generally more standard formats that feels more able to tap into deeper feelings. Not that I actually listen to much metal and if I do, it's usually Sabbath. m/
I have to say, the fact the one reviewer (Metal Temple) is totally flummoxed by the album, while another (Classic Rock) seems to find the same elements cause for celebration, gives me great pleasure and makes me even more excited to hear it. I have a feeling this is somehow going to be yet another unusual outlier within the Motorpsycho oeuvre.
Classic Rock magazine have given the album 7/10. The review appeared at the Rune Grammofon site.
Expansive, experimental live-in-the-studio masterwork. Trondheim's Motorpsycho have been making eye-popping music since the 90s, with each album or EP more expressive than the last. It's hard to convey the enormity of their mix of prog and psychedelic rock, although something like 2016's Here Be Monsters is probably as good a place as any to start if you're looking to have your metaphorical lid flipped. Ancient Astronauts is a lockdown album like no other. It was originally devised in part for a piece by the Impure Dance Company, a few songs from which became the springboard for the AA album. The album comprises only four songs, one of which clocks in at 2:14 and another at 22:22, and it's magnificent, from full-blown fuzz-pedal rock monster to drones and shimmering interplay, highs and stupefying lows. As the PR says: "An explorative album without a whole lot of choruses!"
Metal Temple gives it a poor 5/10, rating it "mediocre"!
The album was recorded in Amper Tone studio in Oslo in the summer of 2021. Since COVID was still making international travel very difficult, Stockholm-based Reine Fiske wasn’t in the studio with the three core MOTORPSYCHO members, making this the first album in years that they recorded as a three-piece. Recorded mainly in live takes with only a few overdubs and the vocals added afterwards, this is essentially the band playing live in the studio. The cover consists of stills from the movie project, filmed at dawn in early August at Skottbu in Norway. The title “Ancient Astronauts” remains a bit of a mystery: are they following clues left by earlier travelers or are they perhaps leaving some themselves? The album contains four songs.
“The Ladder” is the first cut. The rhythm and pacing of this song is as odd as the chord progressions, especially in the vocals. There are periods of disconnect with the instruments, and then periods of reciprocity. The fuzzy guitar solo ushers in a darker sound as the sonority picks up. Like a ladder, it builds as it ascends. “The Flower of Awareness” is much shorter, but no less weird. There is very little sonority, what you would expect the sound of a flower to make…virtually none. “Mona Lisa Azrael” is a 12-minute opus. Gentle, weeping tones marked the beginning, with strings and a slow drum beat. Vocals also roll in slow, and melancholy. At the four-minute mark, it picks up a little, with tense percussion. A jam ensures from there, with thick bass notes in unison with the drums, while eerie leads are played over top, and there is a long fade-out at the end.
The lengthy, 22-minute “Chariot of the Sun to Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme from an Imagined Movie)” closes the album. There is a very long fade-in with the slow building of layers. It isn’t until the six-minute mark until we get a clear sound. Bass guitar begins to thump away in a groovy rhythm, and gradually more instruments are added, until the 12-minute mark, when the sound gets fairly chaotic. The sound then drops until the 18-minute mark, followed by a brief moment of sonority, and then it drops again through the end. What a strange album. The band are obviously talented, but what are they really going for in these four songs? Perhaps the title of the album is indeed the end result…a mystery in every sense of that word.
Songwriting: 5
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 3
Production: 7
Review from Dump Magazine (NL)
The Normans are back. The trio releases an album almost every year. This is number twenty-four. Their sound is so original that it is difficult to put a stamp on it. Their mix of psychedelia, jazz, ambient and at times stoner rock remains adventurous. There are four songs on the record. The disc opens with 'The Ladder' . After some intro sounds, we are immediately treated to a stunning interplay of guitar, bass and drums. There you hear how well the gentlemen are attuned to each other. The clean voice with only some reverb as an effect has a sensitive vibration. Further in the song firm guitar work with a heavy fuzz. 'The Flower of Awareness' are some mysteriously terrifying sounds. Fortunately short-lived. However, they are not an intro to the next song 'Mona Liza Azrael'. A sad song on a very slow rhythm. The synths and bells emphasize the sadness even more. We get four minutes of a rhythm on one string with synths in the background. Then suddenly all brakes are released and there follows a complicated rhythm with a strong solo. The song becomes a psychedelic trip that ends just as it started: with sounds.
A deer darts through the forest. Sunbeams penetrate the leaves of the trees. The eyes of the deer are blinded in an irregular way. Everything is good and bad. (nice chords on a clean guitar supported by synths and background backing)
Suddenly dark clouds appear in front of the sun, the wind picks up and makes the animal restless. The deer is being hunted. By what? By who? She slaloms through the trees. It's going to be a race against time. After ten minutes, it stops abruptly. Has the deer been caught? Has the danger passed? Did she make it? The wind dies down, the sun reappears…
Chariot of the Sun – To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Surrise (Theme of an inmagined movie) is a great song. A twenty-two minute psychedelic trip with a climax in the middle that reverberates for a long time.
MOTORPSYCHO is and remains special. The musical well from which they get their songs is clearly not empty. These musical geniuses continue to surprise.
Guido Grymon Prez.
Dump Magazine review of Ancient Astronauts
(Translated by Google translate)
Not so positive from Italian blog site Reverendo Lys:
A visual and a theatrical project together with the Impure Dance Company. And, in addition to this, the "usual" new album, made, however, without the contribution of Reine Fiske. All this in full pandemic and related restrictions. In short, it certainly cannot be said that the Motorpsycho remained on the sofa waiting for everyone to be free to use up their inexhaustible reserve of energy. Reserve from which they draw for this Ancient Astronauts, full of the usual libations of the Norwegian group, including the slightly moldy Viking gamalost of which their pantry is always full.
There are four songs in all (one of which, short, of only "ambient noise", if the oxymoron is allowed, NdLYS), with an entire facade occupied by Chariots of the Sun – To Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme from an Imagined Movie), temporarily destined for the scepter of the longest song written by the Norwegian trio. However, it has ceased to amaze for a while, and this must be said without diminishing its HUGE value and the abnormal and volcanic creativity that distinguishes it. However, beyond the merits that I have always recognized for the Motorpsycho, Ancient Astronauts does not offer much more than a regenerating bath in slightly stagnant waters, forcing us to decline that ancient title in its ancient meaning. And after all, their attachment to folk-prog is so tough that we could hardly expect anything prodigious except in terms of the perennial and seasonal flowering of these gems to which our sense of smell has now become a bit addicted while still sensing their aroma.
We will fill the rooms once again. And the nostrils will enjoy it.
But the meat, the meat needs more.
Reverendo Lys review of Ancient Astronauts
(Translated by Google translate)
@johnny – I love this!
Quote:If there was a Nobel prize for rock music, MP would be close contenders for the first nomination. Exaggerated? Fan view? Probably. But…Motorpsycho do not just "copy" or "replay" or "milk" 70s rock, be it progressive, heavy, folky or whatever. Motorpsycho do to 70s rock musically what Bob Dylan has done to the american folk blues canon: took it up, wrestled with it, re-shaped it, re-interpreted it and spit it out as something intelligent, new and still recognizably old at the same time – and definitively their own.
And I completely agree with you and suntripper regarding the inadequacy of language to describe the, er, ineffable. :lol:
@suntripper – I have to say that poetry, a few exceptions aside, leaves me cold. And it took me years before I really started to appreciate lyrics (thank you Miss Mitchell with your pills and powders and passion plays). But outside of the musical setting I just don't feel it. Anyway, yes I read Autobiography of a Yogi and a couple of Hesse books, including Siddartha. Loved Siddartha and Steppenwolf. For some reason I never read The Glass Bead Game (Das Glasperlenspiel), though people kept telling me I should. I'm not familiar with Zanoni at all. I read Von Daniken's Chariot of the Gods back in the early 70s. It was a fantastic read, as I remember. Exciting ideas and possibilities to the mind of a 13-year-old kid or anyone with a vivid imagination.
I listened to DDU a couple of days ago and reread the lyrics. Obviously it's strongly narrative, and it seems very literary to me. Another story of transformation, it too seems to end in an epiphany of sorts (Into the Mystic), though the nature of both the journey and the realization are fairly ugly. But, the narrator does seem to have conquered the fear of death, looking it in the face.
Death appears to be a motif in both N.O.X. and Begynnelser. Of course MP didn't write Begynnelser but it's a funny (non-?)coincidence. All three are also about life, beginnings, transcending the mundane and defying death.
I really don't know if life or death are themes in Folk Flest. I just haven't engaged with it that way at all. Like Magma's music (talk about concepts!!) (by which it's clearly influenced) I just love it and have never attempted to understand it. What I really need to do is sit down and read Johan Harstad's manifesto and the rest of the stuff in the booklet.
Talk about concepts!! Magma are a bloody weird band to try to describe to people. It's not too bad as you stumble through the unusual mix of musical elements, but when you add that it's sung in Kobaian and then have to explain all that, it starts to get really difficult to convince just how bloody brilliant this band is.
Have a good Sunday all
