ALBUM REVIEW: Echoes From The Universe – Mr. Bison
Known for its beautiful landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its influence on high culture, the central Italian region of Tuscany is frequently considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Littered with UNESCO heritage sites and artistic centres, it is the perfect place to be inspired and to create stunning art, which is something progressive heavy psych rockers MR. BISON know a lot about. Formed in 2009, over the last 15 years the Tuscan quartet have provided the world with liquid riffs, ornate and majestic sonic tapestries, luscious psychedelia and vibrant, progressive grooves.
The band return with their sixth studio album Echoes From The Universe. Following on from their thunderous 2020 offering Seaward, MR. BISON embark on a journey exploring the notions of freedom and destiny through the sphere of Norse mythology and the fate weavers, the Norns. The Norns of Norse mythology go by the names of Urðr (Wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld. Their principle responsibility is to draw water from their sacred well to nourish Yggdrasil and spin the threads of fate of the entire universe into an illustrious tapestry. Using theses mysterious and esoteric sisters of fate and destiny, the band take you on a prismatic voyage of breathtaking musical beauty and vivid storytelling.
MR. BISON have used these sisters as a symbol of freedom of choice. Due to the Norns threading past, present, and future all eventually intersect and influence one another to create this universal fate. Not wanting to exclude but imply an element of chance, Echoes From The Universe is a powerful, evocative album with impeccable heavy psych and fluid progressive rock elements. MR. BISON take the lucid prog of PINK FLOYD, combine it with their signature brand of heavy psych and turn it into an epic piece of musical theatre, much like the work of their contemporaries ELDER, HOWLING GIANT and KING BUFFALO.
It was on 2018’s Holy Oak that the Tuscan natives started to hone the progressive and psychedelic side of their sound, moving away from fuzz-drenched BLACK SABBATH-esque riffs and gritty blues, exchanging it for a much more fluid musical style which was expanded on the aforementioned Seaward. Echoes From The Universe on the other hand, is the band reaching a peak, significantly more cohesive and flowing, Matteo Barsacchi (guitar, bass, synth), Matteo Sciocchetto (guitar, bass, vocals), Lorenzo Salvadori (drums) and Davide Salvadori (acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, mellotron, bass, synth) have pushed themselves to the upper echelons of their creativity.
The band have become the mystical beings that they’re channelling, weaving together golden threads of liquid melodies, heavenly harmonies, uplifting grooves and soul-nourishing synth layers. If there was ever a cure for the dull monotony of every day life, Echoes From The Universe is it, providing an explosively vibrant and colourful form of escapism that sends you screaming into the cosmos to float among the stars. The album effortlessly flows, melting away time like a Salvador Dali painting. The words intoxicating and entrancing are what comes to mind for the majority of the album, alongside moments of euphoria and triumphant riffs, Echoes From The Universe takes you to some dizzying heights and then some.
The album gets off to an ELDER-esque start with The Child Of The Night Sky. Swirling, reverb-drenched guitar leads and groove-laden riffs erupt into life with anthemic vocals. This impeccably sets the scene as to what is to come, yet MR. BISON make sure to keep you on your toes. Followed by the flamboyant acoustic opening of Collision, the band show of their skill in writing infections hooks and layering all sorts of different sounds and textures. The track then gives way to the PINK FLOYD-ian Dead In The Eye, a trippy, fuzz and chorus-drenched track that is surprisingly meditative.
Fragments carries on the PINK FLOYD influence with prominent bass grooves and atmospheric guitar parts that lull you into a trance-like state as the melodies and riffs evolve and progress. After two fairy chilled out tracks, The Promise launches you straight back into the anthemic riffs and ethereal harmonies with the tolling of a bell. Upping the ante, this track shows you MR. BISON’s versatility as musicians and songwriters as they effortlessly chop and change between tempos, textures and emotions. The Veil is a pummelling heavy psych rager that has an earthiness about it, as if it knows it is the final build-up to the album’s climax Staring At The Sun. This final track sees MR. BISON concluding their journey how they started it, with a bombastic, kaleidoscopic explosion of riffs, harmonies and synths.
Echoes From The Universe is an anthemic album that gets its hooks in you. Evocative and emotive, it feels like your soul and consciousness are suspended in time by the end of the album. Simply put, Echoes From The Universe is progressive heavy psych done exceptionally well.
Rating: 9/10
Echoes From The Universe is set for release on February 16th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
Like MR. BISON on Facebook.