ALBUM REVIEW: 2020 Back To Earth – Kayleth
It’s amazing how stubborn rock music, and its sub-genre family tree, has proven to be. Rock has been part of the musical and cultural landscape for over 70 years, and the secret to its longevity has been constant evolution – when one form of rock is mastered and at the height of its powers, it will spiral off into a new form. Around 30 years ago in the 1990’s, one of rock’s dominant forms embraced sun-blasted, windswept deserts, powered by fuzzy riffs that drove like a battered-but-unbroken Chevy, and fuelled by sweet Mary Jane; stoner rock. Looking at festival line ups from Download to Desertfest over the last few decades, it’s clear that stoner rock has kept on rolling for three decades, despite the unfortunate fact that the form was perfected by KYUSS on 1992’s Blues For The Red Sun.The reason this potted genre history lesson is relevant to 2020 Back To Earth, the third full-length from stoner rockers KAYLETH, is because, despite a smattering of spacey sounds that tie the record to its cosmic concept, the Veronians stick firmly to the same dust-caked highways that their fellow stoner rockers have sped down for the last three decades.
Opener Corrupted swoops with sci-fi electronic, a robotic voice instructing “Let’s rock!” before big crunchy riffs open the throttle into an easy stoner drive. Dazzling, effects drenched solos launch as swinging bass and drum rhythms try to keep things grounded, forcing winding left and right turns of clattering, carefree rock’n’roll. Concrete‘s descending drums and fat chords live up to the title, scuzzy bass grooves and a spattering of prog easing things into a breathless, racing drive.
Lost In The Canyons stabs with heavy bass and stomping grooves before giving way to dizzying fretwork. Just when the track seems like a stoner rock checkbox exercise, bombastic sax work breathes welcome new life. The Dawn Of Resurrection slowly builds to a zenith of more spaced out soloing, Delta Pavonis flattening out as the desert landscape stretches out, buoyed by dunes of low down boogie and grumbling bass.
By Your Side bounces around before settling into another cruise around a focal point of snare. Electron pulses and throbs with gristly, droning synths before loping along with a swinging riff. The Avalanche pulses with kicks and B-movie sound effects, closing on a lumbering riff.
Sirens is all moody bass and breathy vocals, creeping guitars whining away over distant toms that beat slowly and deliberately. It’s the most foreboding and minor-key track on the record, sticking out because of it. Closer Cosmic Thunder morphs from a buzzsaw synth wave into rhythmic grooves, a foot-stomper throughout, nailing the requisite good-time stoner rock vibes and running with them to a climactic end.
While 2020 Back To Earth doesn’t reinvent the stoner-rock-Chevy wheel, there’s no sign that that’s what KAYLETH have intended to do. A (perhaps lazy) comparison that rears its head throughout the record is that of Swedish fuzzmasters TRUCKFIGHTERS, though KAYLETH are content to mix small doses of prog, psych and electronics in with their riffing rather than letting ballsy groove carry the day.
The fact that there will be an audience ready and waiting for this record is a testament to the enduring love of no-frills stoner rock; driving riffs, played fuzzed out and as loud as possible offer an undeniably simplistic, hedonistic adrenaline rush. That said, KAYLETH don’t do enough here to stand out from the denim-and-tie-dye clad crowd – for more casual (and less high) listeners, this is just another so-so stoner album.
Rating: 5/10
Back To Earth 2020 is out now via Argonauta Records.
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