Comets on Fire - Blue Cathedral
(Subpop)
In late 2002 the Comets on Fire released their fully-realized monument to acid-drenched rock music, Field Recordings From the Sun. This album fleshed out every bit of the promise that the band had exhibited on their self-titled debut album. Over the course of a little over thirty-five minutes, this sophomore effort blasted through chord after chord, riff after riff, and tab after tab of outsized spasmodical noise that displayed no small amount of bravado. It was a release that helped re-teach many a listener, including myself, what it is like to just completely rock without regard for the consequences. It is now the middle of 2004 and those same five aural explorers (including Ben Chasny) are back. Their latest release, Blue Cathedral, documents what the group found when they left their prior outpost on the sun's surface and journeyed straight into the fiery center of the star. The resultant album demonstrates the band's further growth and complexity and warrants the label of instant classic. While there is still substantial room for the songs to explode directly from the speaker cabinets, these detonations are tempered and even punctuated by the many prolonged moments of muted complexity and creative musicianship.
The incandescent rock of Field Recordings was brash and refreshing, but it offered no respite. Artists who can produce albums of that intensity and composition can only be released ever so often. To have a band repeat that sort of formula over and over again would demonstrate not only a lack of creative growth but would also take away from the effectiveness of the original composition. Much of what made that album so special was the lack of seriously comparable material being released elsewhere in the States at that time. Blue Cathedral succeeds since it doesn't really act as a direct follow-up to the prior album. The band has refrained from releasing Field Recordings From the Sun 2 - A Return Trip, electing instead to keep and refine all of the aspects that made the other album so great and add new sounds to their aesthetic. Their latest release sees the Comets experimenting with organs, somewhat straightforward keyboard/piano tones, and less abrasive songwriting in ways that are almost playful. Tracks displaying these sorts of characteristics are scattered through Blue Cathedral and act to break up the otherwise intense rock attack. These detours take many different forms, be it the bizarre parlor tune of "Pussy Footin' the Duke", the somewhat loud yet totally-spaced out keyboard-driven "Wild Whiskey," or Ben Chasny's acoustic Six Organs of Admittance-esque stylings of "Brotherhood of the Harvest," there is more to this album than crushing volume.
If you're a longtime fan of the band, don't worry about the rock having gone away. The sound that made you fall in love with the Comets on Fire in the first place is still here and it sounds better than ever before. "The Bee and the Crackin' Egg" opens the album with a bang. Utrillo Belcher's drums are mercilessly pounded and sound as if the heads and cymbals will all simultaneously explode from the sounds that they are being forced to emit. Miller and Chasny's guitars clash and intertwine while continually challenging each other to get even louder than they already are. This insanity is only heightened by the otherworldly wail of the Echoplex. The song is completely massive and seems to climax and reach a sort of musical nirvana at two stupefying points within the track's opening five minutes. "Whiskey River," the album's second big rocker, contains the best and most proper use of a saxophone in a straight-ahead rock song since the Stooges' "L.A. Blues." The track starts with a slow burn before totally erupting forth and never looking back. While there are several great examples of the band's ability to rock, the album-closing "Blue Tomb" is perhaps the best example of the band's new varied sound. The track deliberately and dissonantly creeps along, constantly seeming to be boiling just under the surface. The way that the band takes such a calm direction over a ten minute song while retaining a brash and chaotic core demonstrates the way in which the band has grown since their last release. It provides a perfect bookend to such a solid album, reminding the listener that the ability to push the boundaries of psych rock doesn't necessarily have to be shockingly loud or overblown.
Field Recordings From the Sun was the rare sort of phenomenal record that came out of nowhere and demanded repeat high-volume listens. The way that it was simply so intense and overblown floored me, especially when that frantic energy was present on virtually the entire album. While those out-of-control and tripped out moments still exist and populate Blue Cathedral, the manner in which they are tempered by the calmer and simply different tracks helps to create a more mature and complex album. It is almost frightening to think about how good this band has become in such a short period of time. There appears to be no limit to their sort of guitar-driven chaos. Blue Cathedral should be seen as essential listening to anyone interested in hearing both the present and future of cutting-edge psychedelic rock music.
|
