ALBUM REVIEW: We Are Doomed – Indica Blues

The phrase ‘desert rock’ usually conjures images of exactly what it says – wide-open expanses of desert from the Sahara to the Mojave or Nevada. What it might not conjure, however, is the grey skies of Oxfordshire. Psychedelic doom outfit INDICA BLUES hail from beneath those grey skies, though their soundscapes do have far more in common with the deserts once used as nuclear testing grounds. On their second album We Are Doomed, INDICA BLUES channel the events of the past few years to tell a tale of a nuclear exchange and its fallout. 

Opening with the monolithic nine-minute Inhale, it’s pretty apparent where their influences lie. The band lay down bluesy, fuzzy riffs that would make ELECTRIC WIZARD pay attention with the swagger of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. The band play with repetition of riffs, building a trance-like atmosphere all the while even when there’s a solo ripping over top.

Following this is the titular second track, featuring a spoken word opener making clear the threat of nuclear annihilation that we face, before droning feedback leads into another fuzz-drenched riff lurches into view. It’s a little more off-kilter initially thanks to the drumming that follows the riff but this works in its favour though it soon finds its groove with the almost-chanted song title and a bluesy solo. 

Other songs reference the Trump era (Demagogue) or simply watching the fires burn (Soul Embers), where followup The End Is Calling makes the apocalypse seem like it’s the place to be. By the time closer Scarred For Life rolls around, with its undulating riffs and almost carefree solo that suddenly collapses at the end, there’s an odd feeling of both the realisation that the world is truly, categorically gone down the pan but also that there’s still plenty of good times to be had before the end of it all.

Perhaps the best way to explain INDICA BLUES’ sound is to use their own words; chiefly, penultimate track Cosmic Nihilism that features an almost-country slow burning opener that builds gradually before dropping the gargantuan riff and heaviness around halfway. The title alone sums up what they do incredibly well – a mind-expanding journey through the end of the world. 

The band are utterly unapologetic in their nihilism and expectations of apocalypse and it’s not hard to see why with the state of the world. While others may wallow in the depths of despair or bursts of aggression – such as nuclear death metallers CYTOTOXIN – what INDICA BLUES deliver instead is a beer-swilling, bong-ripping party at the end of the universe. 

Rating: 8/10 

We Are Doomed is out now via APF Records.

Like INDICA BLUES on Facebook.