Lamagia – Lamagia (LP on Cardinal Fuzz/Sunrise Ocean Bender, 2017)

Listen: https://lamagaia-sob.bandcamp.com/album/lamagaia

Sophomore full length from Sweden psychsters features 35 minutes of brain-crushing, throbbing deliciousness split across two sidelong tracks. ‘Aurora’ pummels forth like that proverbial train that kept a-rollin’ down the line, awash with fuzz-frying, dive-bombing guitar, stutter-stepping drums, and head-throbbing basslines. The metallic crunch kicks off right out of the starting gate and doesn’t let go of your throat for nearly 17 heart attack-inducing minutes. Doomladen vocals are so distorted you’d need a secret decoder ring to understand the lyrics, but the swing’s the thing and you can shout just about anything you want along to the eternal, buzzing throb.

     Flip ‘er over for 19 more minutes of ‘Paronama Vju’, a veritable somnambulistic trudge through the Milky Way on a cloud of stardust. Sustained guitar notes weave around a repetitive, marching beat and rolling bassline, like the guard’s waltz in The Wizard of Oz. Disturbing electronics echo off in the distance, like some haunted wax cylinder before the “song” begins with a guitar duet of nebulous string plucking. Something’s happening here, but you’re not sure what it is, so hang on and let the music take you away. It’s like a Quicksilver-meets-Grateful Dead jam…on steriods. Just sit back and enjoy the trip.

– Jeff Penczak

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