The mess on the floor is my heat melting. The release of The Society Of Rockets' 9th album coincides with the new Anderson Council album that will be reviewed early next week. My review of the band's last album, Tough Trip Through Paradise from 2024 can be indulged in here.
That album showed how you can move through the genres with ease. The single from the album, She Lives In A Museum mixed Pop Rock with incredible Psych Pop and revealed just how melodic they could be and so you sort of expected more of the same.
There are short hints of that. Winchester c.1897 has bursts of Surf, Dragonfly has a great Classic Rock solo and Rainy Day is magnificent Psych Pop with a hint of Ray Davies. The short diversions of Toytown and splendid interludes.
The Mellotron on In The Palace Of Sinking Stones is mind blowing and the song itself, probably the most accessible, edging towards Pop Rock with stunning harmonies. But this is an album of two halves that takes you onto a Psychedelic journey that you don't want to end.
It is a double album, 17 songs in all and to be honest, it is an absolute masterpiece. The front half is mind bending Psych, accessible, but awe inspiring. The second half goes Psych Pop and indulges all that can be contained in the genre from hippy trippy, through Toytown to 1967 UFO Club.
Psych has always been a key weapon in the band's armoury, but this is the most Psychedelic that they've ever been and is possibly their best album yet, simply because they are so good at it. They can do the short and the long and everything keeps your interest.
Magic Hour is a 10 minute soundscape, atmospheric, haunting and hypnotic. Cloudberry Jam gets Indietronic. John O' The Woods is Pastoral, a tableau that shows Acoustic can be as good a Psych listen as full out Electric.
I think many of you know that Psych Pop is my bag, but what The Society Of Rockets do with full blown Psych is just as great. The arrangements are ace, but Joshua Babcock's vocal really holds it all together. A magnificent listen from start to finish and should be discovered that way.
You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.
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