ALBUM REVIEW: Superskull – Black Rainbows
The Eternal City (aka Rome, Italy) is one of the world’s most famous metropolises, a place with several millennia of history, religion, fashion, music and art all contained in one beautiful place. In the 21st Century, Rome is still a thriving hub of exemplary artistic expression; the back catalogue of BLACK RAINBOWS can attest to that. Formed in 2007, over the last 15 years BLACK RAINBOWS have become one of the most revered stoner psych bands in Europe.
With an intense, visceral and unstoppable creative output, this year sees the band release their ninth studio album in as many years. Superskull sees the band at their most varied, building on from their triumphant 2020 album Cosmic Ritual Supertrip by mixing huge stoner riffs with spacey acoustic trips and hypnotic psychedelic suites. It is clear with Superskull that BLACK RAINBOWS are in no rush to slow down and sit comfortably in the realms of psychedelic doom; with a youthful exuberance the Roman trio blast through 12 new and wonderfully fresh sounding songs.
In the past BLACK RAINBOWS have drawn on a mixture of hard hitting 1990s stoner rock and hard driving space rock. However, even though the band would always be able to create trippy vibes, the scales always seemed to favour the heavier stoner aspects of their sound. That’s all change on Superskull. Just like its predecessor, Superskull is a vibrant explosion of colourful riffs. It feels like the band have struck a golden balance between brutally heavy stoner riffs and luscious heavy psych, and as a result it could be argued that Superskull is their best album to date.
It’s an album that conjures up a plethora of trippy imagery as well as hazy cosmic scenes – like an audio version of venturing in a 1960s VW camper van through space. In some parts of the album it feels like a trippy ride through the galaxies, staring at planets and stars. However the majority of it feels like you’re drifting on Saturn’s rings or competing in the World Rally Championship on Mars. The entrancing combination of heavy, bluesy riffs and driving grooves with steadily shifting dynamics makes you zone out completely as the all-encompassing fuzz and kaleidoscopic psychedelia wash over you. BLACK RAINBOWS have made a significant effort to really focus on their songwriting and production, which gives Superskull a significant edge over their last few albums.
With that in mind, the album is also significantly expansive and atmospheric, and this comes as a result of BLACK RAINBOWS attention to detail. With multiple layers blending together, there is a substantial sonic depth that we haven’t seen from the band before. This dedicated focus to creating the biggest sounding record they possibly can has certainly paid off. Underpinning all this is a fiery passion that drives BLACK RAINBOWS; just like Cosmic Ritual Supertrip there is an added indescribable oomph behind the songs. It sets the band up nicely to become a truly dominant force this decade, as their refreshed sound pulls no punches and goes all out to push the boundaries of their creative abilities in every area of their songwriting.
Sometimes it’s incomprehensible how many beefy songs can come from just three guys. Apocalypse March wastes no time in kicking the album off with a supernova’s worth of explosive energy after a funky, bluesy intro. Superhero Dopeproof follows a similar formula but introduces more psychedelia into the chunky stoner riffs. Children Of Fire And Sacrifices leans more into the bluesy grooves of stoner; with its boogie groove you’ll be unable to stop your legs from moving along to the drums. Cosmic Ride Of The Crystal Skull is a swirling and chaotic stoner anthem, as ascending and descending riffs accompanied by spacey vocals launch you to some dizzying heights. The Pilgrim Son is a nearly nine-minute psychedelic space odyssey, a plethora of psych melodies and jangly chords that takes you a journey to another realm of consciousness.
Till The Outerspace and Lone Wolf return to business as usual with more earthy riffs and boogie grooves, but with a significantly more pronounced psych presence intermingled with a tinge of prog. King Snake is a trippy, acoustic guitar led ballad that offers a brief moment of calm with its ethereal, space rock atmospheres. Desert Son is a huge riff driven anthem that has double the impact after the calmness of King Snake. All The Chaos In Mine is the final calm before the storm as it explores heavy space rock atmospheres and trippy vocal melodies. Closing with the funky, bluesy, fuzz-drenched epic Megalomania, the album ends with a brilliant flourish.
Superskull is BLACK RAINBOWS at their most musically diverse, and as a result the album is easily their best work to date. Their fiery, intense stoner riffs will surely bring them a horde of new fans as they continue to reign as one of Europe’s premier stoner bands.
Rating: 9/10
Superskull is set for release on June 9th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
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