ALBUM REVIEW: In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal – Nebula & Black Rainbows

June 24, 2024 Tom Fordham

From the Mojave Desert to the streets of Rome, distance is no obstacle for Californian legends NEBULA and Italian stoner rock giants BLACK RAINBOWS. The two heavyweights of the psych and stoner scenes team up for a very special split album: In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal. With three psychotropic tracks recorded in the middle of the Mojave desert from NEBULA and three handpicked stoner rock bangers from BLACK RAINBOWS – which were taken from their Superskull album recording sessions – this split album is a mighty collaboration. Imbued with the heat of the desert and the hazy summer days of the Mediterranean, In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal is 32 minutes of exceptional psych and stoner that will have you ready for summer in no time.

Formed in 1997 by former FU MANCHU members Eddie Glass (guitar) and Ruben Romano (drums), Californian stoner rock legends NEBULA are known for their intoxicating blend of feedback soaked rock, BLACK SABBATH-inspired riffs, dizzying psychedelia, and mind-expanding space rock. For this split album they have provided three new songs that incorporate all of those elements and dipped them in acid. For the most part, NEBULA’s half of the album feels like it has come out of the halcyon days of the late 60s and early 70s with their vintage, overdriven tones and analogue production.

Carrying on from where 2022’s Transmission From Mothership Earth left off, Acid Drop, Eye Of The Storm and Ceasar XXXIV are trip-inducing tracks that take the listener on a strange musical journey. Swirling guitar leads drenched in chorus and reverb accompanied by frantic rhythms, driving bass lines and lofty vocal harmonies have you feeling like you’ve been soaked in acid and baked into an edible. NEBULA certainly unleash the stranger aspects of their sound in these three songs, and it offers an interesting contrast to the earthier riffs of their Italian counterparts.

Acid Drop is Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on steroids; whacky and experimental, its frantic pace and intertwined guitar melodies will have your head in a spin. Eye Of The Storm is a bit more laid back but absolutely drenched in fuzz, so much so you can hear the levels on the recording equipment maxing out. The trippy layered vocals sound like a voice from beyond the cosmos looking to guide you on a hallucinogenic journey through the desert. This bleeds into Ceasar XXXIV, a song loaded with BLACK SABBATH-esque riffs and blazing hard rock which sets you up nicely for BLACK RAINBOWS’ half of the album.

Since 2007, BLACK RAINBOWS have been supplying the world with exquisite heavy psych and stoner albums packed full of grooves and bluesy riffs. 2023’s Superskull was the band’s ninth album that showcased their hard-hitting brand of trippy, riff-driven heavy psych. Their half of In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal reflects the sessions they were recorded in, packed full of riffs and imbued with a dazzlingly confident swagger, the Italian trio up the ante for the second half of the split.

Superskull was a brilliant album in and of itself, yet there were bound to be songs that didn’t quite make it. However The Secret, Thunder Lights On The Greatest Sky and Dogs Of War certainly weren’t destined to be left on the cutting room floor. Exceptionally powerful and brazen, they are strong songs that have a different vibe about them. Leaning more into the band’s deep cosmos psychedelia and melodic side but still retaining the chunky, bluesy grooves the band are known for, BLACK RAINBOWS have imbued these songs with emotions they don’t usually explore, especially in the melancholic and trippy track Dogs Of War.

Opening track The Secret has a brilliant southern rock vibe that will have you bobbing along wishing you were on a road trip on the highway at dusk, watching the sunset over the horizon. Thunder Lights On The Greatest Sky is a psychedelic track that transports you to another world as Gabriele Fiori’s vocals echo down from the sky like some sort of stoner rock god. The aforementioned Dogs Of War closes out In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal on a melancholic note. With an intensely atmospheric first half the song slowly builds into a triumphant barrage of huge stoner rock chords and anthemic vocals before closing out with a cannonade of staccato chords that split your skull.

As far as split albums go, In Search Of The Cosmic Tale: Crossing The Galactic Portal is a strange one from two heavyweight bands with completely contrasting sounds. However, the quality of stoner and heavy psych songwriting on display is second to none. NEBULA and BLACK RAINBOWS have but together a riff-filled split album that has you longing for long days under the sun with a beer in your hand and psychedelic vibes.

Rating: 8/10