ALBUM REVIEW: Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension – They Watch Us From The Moon

Never judge a book by its cover, unless that book is an album called Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension, by a band called THEY WATCH US FROM THE MOON, made up of musicians with names like Luna Nemesis and Nova 10101001. All of which screams a cosmic journey into everything extraterrestrial, and it is, with solar system-sized riffs to propel the ship and psychedelic harmonies to bring this sci-fi epic into hazy focus.

Inspired by everyone from MONSTER MAGNET to PINK FLOYD, across five tracks and 44 minutes these Kansans fight on the moon, prophesize destruction and doom, and return to Earth. It’s as succinct as it is expansive. The pace varies between slow and even slower, but adding colour to these stoner-friendly tones are the surprisingly accessible hooks by Luna and Nova. They’re repetitive as is the way of the genre, but the vocal refrain throughout On The Fields Of The Moon burrows and takes root, while the swagger of Space Angel is amplified by the bluesy approach to lines like “space angel, space angel, see how high she flies”.

There’s more of that when the band jam out on the 10-minute Creeper AD, the soloing by R. Benjamin Black heavily indebted to the same spirit of rock ’n’ roll. The production is as crisp and realised as their otherworldly concept; lead guitar work pierces through the sludge like lights in the night sky. While some aspects of THEY WATCH US FROM THE MOON are admittedly quite silly, the noise they make and how good it sounds are entirely serious. It’s a record for people open to losing themselves among the clouds, and so is appropriately enveloping in all its crushing shoegaze textures.

Centrepiece Mother Of All Bastards is one for the doom purists, imagining cataclysmic destruction – with a clear nod to the a-bomb – over their most sinister grooves. Removed from its context, it is a standout track of real discomfort where the band’s imaginations turn from the fantastical to the terrifyingly real, for a sense of walking among the wreckage of a manmade mess.

But then, the gloriously symphonic Return To Earth sounds like the clouds clearing, a relief after all that bother. Beautiful harmonies signal the end of the journey, while tonally it owes as much to DEVIN TOWNSEND’s Ziltoid saga as it does label-mates MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD. Which is what makes Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension so charming. On the one hand, it is light and fun, some fictional frivolity to throw on for a spin and have a real good time with. But just try to deny their musical chops on the other. Whether it is gargantuan riffs or harmonies FLEETWOOD MAC would be proud of, something heavy or something bluesy, it’s all here in the band’s debut full-length. Consider us ascended and already anticipating act 2.

Rating: 8/10

Cosmic Chronicles: Act 1, The Ascension is set for release on May 5th via New Heavy Sounds.

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