Sound of Cobra (LP)/Paradigms (CD)
No-one would have believed that in the first years of the 21st century that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space…
Easterfaust is The Cosmic Dead’s 12” vinyl, two track wig out to spiral galaxies via doses of Krautrock and good old space rock. The vinyl comes in glorious coloured loveliness with some artwork that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Barney Bubbles Hawkwind album sleeve from 1973. The packaging is lovely enough alone to make you want to fork out your hard-earned cash, but what about the music?
Part one starts with a lilting riff with swirls of sound that drift around beneath its chord structure. Some primal vocalising punches through this sound now and again, but the overall feel is as if being adrift in the farthest reaches of space. After this the track slowly begins to build. Space wibble synths and noisy guitar all smash together as soon as the drums hit in. Here we get a little Acid Mothers Temple sounding, as if your body is free falling to another planet.When the motorik beats takes, over suddenly you are traversing clouds on a strange world. This becomes at times both hypnotic as well as reminding you of early Hawkwind at their best, although The Cosmic Dead have put their personal stamp all over the track as well. When the chanting vocal moves in we get the sensation that we are moving over the temples and palaces of an alien world. The track builds into a “Brainstorm”-style space rock madness that is punctuated by some lead synth and ends in a crescendo. And that’s just side one.
Side two blasts off into a hectic space riff with some wild synth and wilder guitar. The drums clatter over a mighty bass as if they are the soundtrack to the end of the cosmos. Is there no end to this space madness? This is headbanging craziness that people would have got psyched to when out to destroy empires; this is the sound of the Stonehenge free festival in 1975. When the monolithic riff begins to pace down a bit some wailing lead guitar takes over and suddenly we are all moving in slow motion in front of strobe lights at The UFO Club. This is freak out dancing time on the lip of one of the rings of Saturn.The pulsing beat keeps going as the guitar and synths slide along the solar winds and float around. The lead guitar now becomes more melodious and plays some subtle licks and a nice chugging segment to help power along the motorik rhythm, though in fact here the band reminds me a little bit of The Pink Fairies. The final segment of the track slows down to a standstill and we end up in the deep OM of a drone with fluttering synths to take us out there further… somewhere… until that riff kicks back in again.
Both tracks clock in at about 19 minutes each, which means in effect you are buying what would have been the length of an album in the old daze. This is definitely a great trip out record. So this is well worth a purchase if you can still find any of the limited number of vinyl around. A must for all space travellers.-Gary Parsons-
