In his unyielding haunting quest to exhume the spirit of the Old and True, Woe J. Reaper and his FURZE digs with this fifth album – his first on Fysisk Format – even deeper into forgotten tombs of rustic psychedelia and doom metal rock. Unlike many of his contemporary retrovisionists, whose nostalgia for late 60’s/early 70’s occultist rock rarely move further beyond obscene necrophilia and attempts at dad rock hit-song writing, FURZE makes no virtue of being easy-listened or instantly comprehensible. For many, it seems, not at all comprehensible, though this is by all standards the most easily accessible album of his/theirs up to date. Mind you, this album is 93% instrumental, and it’s only the final few minutes of the album that has lyrics – a turn-off for many, I’d assume. Though there are enough layers of music to delve into here for the experienced FURZE traveller to not mind the absence of the Reaper’s deranged howls and snarling beckoning (though you hear some on the opening track).
The edition I’ve received, much graciously, is the gatefold version on ruby-red vinyl, with a log book (but unlike Hawkwind’s journeys, here you get to write yourself about your astral travellings!) and a lovely poster. Only in 200 copies, every die-hard needs this version, if not just for the masterful cover artwork (by Sami Albert Hynninen, Finnish doomlord from Reverend Bizarre etc).
As always, the Reaper is continuously haunting his own archive, exploring old unused lyrical and musical material – more so than ever here, where only two of the tracks (“Occult Soul, With Mind” and “Triad of Lucifer (Groove of Darkness)”) are new songs per se, while “When Always Ready” and “Reaper Subconscious Guide” are lifted from the recording sessions of the previous album,Reaper Subconscious Guide. This album’s title track, “Psych Mooz Space Control” (“mooz” is to “zoom neither IN nor OUT” and not an animal mind you), was recorded way back during the Necromanzee Cogent sessions, where FURZE’s doom leanings were first heard.
Anyway, even though the age difference can be heard in the production of the songs, this still glues together as a whole album – after all, besides the DEATH SS-ripping thrasher of “When Always Ready”, the album is 2 psychadelic doom explorations on each side. Opener “Occult Soul, With Mind” is a hefty, epic and very traditional doom piece. Complete Black Sabbath worship, with some Furzean out there-electronic elements. The title track, stemming from 2001, upholds FURZE’s enigmatic and obscure legacy of creating wholly unseen and unheard underworlds with the most narrow and low-key means possible, with the addition of a truly deranged electric violin. As a guitarist, I’d place him alongside a master like Paul Chain in terms of singular, darkened visions. Side B continues in the same vein – nocturnal visions of narrow corridors through the cosmos of the mind and Satan. You shouldn’t need more of a description.
In the end, this album will read as a less important one in the main FURZE discography. It simply isn’t that much of a masterpiece as for example the aforementioned Necromanzee Cogent, one of the most haunting and singular black metal albums ever. But Psych Minus Space Control is another step on the path to whatever something else the Reaper is hunting for. And as that, well done. There is still only the One Reaper, and only one FURZE.
-aVoid
VITALS:
Release: 15.05.2012
Label: Fysisk Format
Avantgenre: Psych Black Doom Metal
Duration: 43.02
Origin: Norway
Official site: http://www.furze.no
Review online since: 05.07.2012 / 14:29:12
TRACKLIST:
1. Occult Soul, With Mind
2. Psych Mooz Space Control
3. Reaper Subconscious Guide
4. Triad Of Lucifer (groove Of Darkness)
5. When Always Ready
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