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After a few spins I am very pleased with this record – and I suspect it will keep growing on further listenings. There's a lot of things going on here and a lot to take in.
Psychotzar is brilliant – love the Sabbath-heaviness! Lux is very nice too. But the title track is the highlight of the album imo – that doom/drone part is absolutely stellar, very excited to see how that beast will unravel live. Overall another humdinger in the psychoverse! :STG:
I was waiting for the album to be released in the UK and watching on the dreaded Amazon website. The vinyl (RG) was £18 but today has shot up to £31.I should have secured it before but shit happens.
@airguitarhero. Try Norman Records in the UK.
Has anyone played the black vinyl pressing from Rune? Mine has a really bad hiss on the right channel on "Lux Aterna". (very audible on the quiet parts) Now, it could be my record player, but… I have no impulse control, so I got the limited edition as well, and it has no hiss at all.
@kak I got the silver one and it plays perfect. The only issue I got is that it seems to be mastered a bit low volume-wise.
Received yesterday, and spun it twice.
Psychotzar has grown on me, yup those riffs & solos by Snah are A+++. Hard-hitting lyrics as well about this shithole world we live in. Great serious rocker, even though the gongs and cowbells always crack me up :lol:
Lux Aeterna matched or surpassed my expectations. Initially I thought it went a bit slow compared to last autumns versions. But it fit the song better. And when you combine the backstory of the lyrics with that uplifting chorus, we get another immortal MP classic. Best track on the album!
The title track: This obviously needs more listens as there's a lot going on in there. But I was initially a bit underwhelmed. The bass-riff that starts at the 5th minute I recognize from some of last year's Chien jams. So far I think it starts and ends great (songparts are terrific), but in the middle there's in my ears some chaotic and meandering jamming. It might grow though, but initially a bit disappointed.
@otherdemon: exactly my thoughts. And @Neil: yup, it’s mastered quite low.
I think this won’t be my favorite MP album of the canon, but it’s good. Feels very EP-ish to me
After a few more spins Im getting more and more lukewarm to The Crucible. They could easily sing about hobbits on this one. To me it seems kinda formulatic, with to much focus on technicality and less on space, soul and goosebumps perhaps? Will hopefully grow on me. The Crucible the song mos def has potential. Ok. Just finished it again, it is is rather good.. especially after listen to it loud with headphones. Side A not so much. Imo its down there with most of the unicorn and half of the Tower.
Crucible arrived this morning. After first play I'm also still lukewarm – but it will probably get hotter every turn. Psychotzar – well, quite o.k. Not bad, but not exactly my stuff to jump at first listen. Lux Aeterna – was much more impressed by the live version from the German/Swiss mini tour (thought so at first), but then the middle: pure VdGG with Snah in Moester mode. Gripped me till the end.
Surprisingly I found the longest track the most accessible and rather short – not a small achievement for a 20 minutes piece. Time for the 2nd turn…
Well, the Crucible (cd) dropped on the doormat today, after a long anticipating wait, especially for the title track, since I had got to know Psychotzar & Lux already from the internet radio podcasts.With those songs at first to me it sounded like flurries of ideas pasted upon each other, but listening closer they began to grow into fascinating constructions that did turn out to be coherent songs in the end, like mini symphonies (that horrible genre they used to name "symphonic rock" springs to mind, luckily MP stays far from what that usually stood for). So after 5 times hearing the title track is it winning coherence for me? Hmmmm…not yet, but it may be a grower, one of those tracks that gain in unity and get better and better until you're absolutely addicted to it, that happened to me before, for instance with Little Lucid Moments. Anyway, I can imagine this one to become a live monster and hope to witness it!
With the cd I had ordered the SuperSonicScientists book, read about half of it, and this seems like a must have for psychonauts , lots of background information, and diversity in the articles written, so if you don't own it yet, it can still be ordered from Stickman!
Now back to playing the Crucible some more! Is today Valentines day?, no way, it's a Motorpsychic day and my wife and I are not going the American but the Norwegian way! :STG:
Somewhat flat production makes impressive material a little underwhelming…
By the way..Major Yes vibes in the beginning, and early Genesis ones at the end of the crucible (track). Not a bad thing, but perhaps a little too much of an homage…?
I know it's not a good idea to post before getting a few good spins, but I can't help myself. Will also be fun to see if I change my mind, so prepare for desperate back-pedaling down the road. But a few quick first impressions (just streaming this so far until I can get to a record store)
– somebody said "What a weird record". I don't understand that at all. This is one of the least weird Motorpsycho records in their cannon if you ask me. And to my ears, that's a bad thing. It's not that it doesn't contain melodies and twists that you may heir as "weird" on their own, but on the whole, this album is perhaps the most overtly "prog" record they've ever made. There's not really anything that stands out to me as being inconsistent With a prog genre record. It's got a Motorpsycho sound and feel, but my first major impression is that it's missing that X-factor of the unexpected and inspired. It's obviously tempting to compare it to The Tower, and in that comparison it falls short by several marks IMO.
The Tower was a classic Motorpsycho record, it had short and long songs, concise and melodious parts, noise, rock and progressive grandeur. None of it could be clearly labeled as such and such though. It was, in essence, Motorpsycho music, and damn fine at that. It sounded like the band working more like they did in the mid-late 90s, being in the moment and catching lighting in a bottle, but doing so by starting With a set of really good songs.
My first impressions of The Crucible is that it sounds more self-conscious, and overtly "progressive". It's like every song starts out with an announcement; "really big statement ahead". Maybe that's why I end up being slightly underwhelmed. It reminds me of the Here Be Monsters era, even if the sound is slightly different. Others have mentioned The Unicorn and Little Lucid Moments (the suite) and those are all good comparisons.
All that said, this is based on just a quick first listen. I certainly enjoy it and I put it to very tough scrutiny here. It might grow. I like Psychotzar a lot, and perhaps that's because I have heard it several times already.
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