
Comets on Fire
Blue Cathedral
Sub Pop
2004
B+

From the onset of Blue Cathedral, the band lets you know that this isn’t your mother’s psychedelic-rock—not for the most part, anyway. “The Bee and the Crackin’ Egg” recalls stuff of the seventies—glints of Robert Plant in Ethan Miller’s vocal delivery (incomprehensible at best, but I surely don’t care, do you?), traces of Pink Floyd, and guitar hooks that sound eerily familiar, however revved up. Comets on Fire should be all long hair and crotch-stuffed pants, but they’re not, and possibly better for it. While Comet’s debut LP was about showing off their punk roots and Field Recordings of the Sun was all musical hell breaking loose, Blue Cathedral strikes a welcome balance between chaos and order (though gone is the blatant punkiness of their debut). “Pussy Footin’ The Duke,” the album’s second track, starts off resembling the soundtrack to some Nintendo game circa 1993, and then sounds like it might as well be a Deerhoof cover until a brilliantly laid-back electric guitar asserts that, well, it isn’t either. Comets on Fire have more than proven themselves worthy to rock, with their previous two releases and unique brand of psych-rock that’s at once schizophrenic, furious, and plenty loud. And thanks to Chasny, on other tracks like “Organs,” “Wild Whiskey,” and “Brotherhood of the Harvest”, the group proves itself able to take things down a notch, with frequently impressive results.
Without downgrading the band’s previous records, Blue Cathedral is a job well-done—arguably their best to date. Uninhibited and hushed in all the right places, it’s safe to say that Comets on Fire have hit their stride.

Reviewed by: Rachel Khong Reviewed on: 2004-07-30 Comments (1) |