ALBUM REVIEW: The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams – Mr. Bison
Italian heavy psychedelic quartet MR. BISON have come a long way since their debut album We’ll Be Brief was released in 2012. Four albums later, the next step in their cosmic journey is marked by the release of The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams on Heavy Psych Sounds Records, a label fast becoming recognised as the home of some of the best doom and stoner metal around. With each release, the band has expanded and refined their sound, ramping the textures and atmosphere up towards a more progressive peak, as heard on 2024’s critically acclaimed Echoes From The Universe. Picking up from where that album left off, The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams sees the band raising the bar once again, each individual song weaving together to create a whole that is more instant than their previous releases but without losing any of the experimentation or heaviness of their best work.
Opener Cosmic Tide comes across like a more polished Spine Of God-era MONSTER MAGNET, with vocalist and bassist Matteo Sciocchetto’s bluesy vocal delivery especially reminiscent of a young Dave Wyndorf. The song builds from a sparkling, arpeggio-style synth and guitar pattern before opening up into a driving, swinging space rocker. It’s a powerful opening song and one that plays it reasonably straight compared to some of the more experimental efforts to come, easing the listener in nicely without scaring them off with anything too complex or intense. It is followed by the album’s title track, a psychedelic prog epic that sounds more like TOOL jamming with ELDER. Here things feel a little proggier, with swirling vocal harmonies, mellotron-style synths and shifting time signatures adding layers of nuance to the piece. Bright Shadow follows in a similar vein, the verse drum patterns of Lorenzo Salvadori paying homage to TOOL legend Danny Carey, but without ripping him off entirely. Fuzzy riffs and twinkling keys further add to the sense that you are encountering something new and complex, a sound created by a band not afraid to show their influences because they sound so secure in their own brilliantly cosmic sound.
The best recent heavy psychedelic releases from the likes of SLIFT, KAL-EL, ELDER and MOTORPSYCHO seem to have mastered this balance between the familiar and the boundary-pushing and with this album MR. BISON can confidently take their place alongside these genre leaders. With one foot too firmly stuck in the past, this kind of music risks becoming a pastiche but without that acknowledgement of heritage things can become unanchored and feel like complexity for the sake of it. With songs like Astray and Turn To Stone,MR. BISON masterfully avoid slipping into cliche, blending classic rock and metal riffs. Turn To Stone could almost be a modern Kashmir by LED ZEPPELIN, with otherworldly atmospheres and clever (but not too clever) arrangements that satisfy the listener without ever losing or confusing them. Album closer Old Hue meanwhile takes a huge 90s grunge groove a la ALICE IN CHAINS and turns it into something unique.
As is often said, albums like this work best when the production matches the quality and inventiveness of the songwriting. Fortunately The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams has no worries in this department, The team of guitarist and synth player Matteo Barsacchi, Richard Beherens, Carl Saff and Adam Ayan have really pulled out all the stops here, creating a record that feels completely alive, while retaining an aural balance that makes for incredibly immersive and satisfying listening.
The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams is a triumph of heavy experimentation by a band seemingly at their creative zenith. Blending heavy grooves, progressive twists, classic spacey psychedelic rock and a pinch of something completely their own, MR. BISON have very much planted their flag near the peak of Mount Doom (metal). We can’t wait to see where they go next.
Rating: 9/10
The Garden Of Forgotten Dreams is set for release on September 25th via Heavy Psych Sounds Records.
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