Album Type:
Album
Date Released:
Sept 28th
2014
Label:
Self Released
Dead Chants
and Forbidden Melodies - track listing:
1.Dead Chants 12:06
2.Rotten Sky 11:20
3.Psychonauts In The
Forest 09:00
4.August 08:06
5.Dance Into The Sun
09:23
6.Manitou's Mantra /
Sleeping King 17:38
Bio
The band starts in
brand new mood in march 2011 in the Italian stoner/psych music
panorama.
The trio (Macej
"wildhand" Mikolajczyk; bass/voice, Domenico "mastino"
Canino; Guitar/Effects/voice, Vito "vitus" Zito; drum)
approaches to a dirty and granitic sound, sometimes clean and
amniotic after has been experimenting in different roman
undergrounds.
During their lives
they have been projecting videos with prevalent object the nature
which has been a perfect psychedelic band’s background added to a
mantras stoner’s riffs and melodious surroundings notes. Under the
Valle D’Itria’s (south of Italy) burning sun of August 2011, the
band locks its self up to give birth to its first low budget self
product the EP “Noisy Spirit”, also supported from Cal Scott
"Umbah" of the ex “Necrosanct”.
Members
Domenico Canino –
Guitar, Vocals & Effects
Maciek Mikolajczyk -
Bass & Vocals
Corrado Battistoni -
Drums
Review:
Italian
Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metallers Otehi have unleashed something
special here. A psychedelic and trippy opus that blends Sludge, Doom,
Stoner, Ambient Noises and Tribal Chants for a heavy and crazy ride.
Dead Chants and Forbidden Melodies is Otehi's eagerly awaited debut
album and they have pulled out all of the stops here. 67 minutes that
is full of twists and turns with a dark delicious experimental vibe.
We all know that Italian Stoner Metal bands do not play by the rules.
Actually, they rip up the rulebook and write their own crazy rules to
make music by.
Well
Otehi play by the same rules as this is one strange trip that blurs
the line between fantasy and reality. Opening track - Dead Chants -
is a 12-minute and track that mixes fuzzy stoner rock with murky
swamp psychedelic rock with traces of drone/chants appearing at
different points of the song. It's one crazy nightmarish stoner rock
extravaganza that may frustrate you at times as thrive being
different to other bands within the genre(s).They take elements of
many different genres and create their own interpretation of it. It
makes for a challenging and rewarding listen that may appeal to the
more adventurous Psych Stoner Metal fan than the casual one.
Though
you cannot deny how talented these guys are as they prove throughout
the album they are a force to be reckoned with. Otehi are masters of
manipulating sounds, grooves, riffs, melodies, vocals and anything
else they can get their hands on. The album makes you feel you are
watching a legendary artist at work. They will leave a trail of
destructive psychedelic riffs in their wake. Second track - Rotten
Sky - proves this very point as it moves from a simply played fuzz
based Stoner Rock song before Otehi unleash blasts of violent lo-fi
guitar based doom and gloom reverb, which gives the song a more
menacing feel. The track is played at a mid-tempo pace, which gives
Rotten Sky more time to breathe and unleash finely tuned progressive
riffs.
3rd
track - Psychonauts In The Forest - sees the band change their style
once again though only by a small amount. The band add earthly drone
based vocals that feel they are being beamed from another galaxy or
dimension. The vocals add a powerful destructive edge that will soon
have you under their hypnotic control. The riffs seem to depart from
space and time altogether and into an unknown realm. Close your eyes
and enjoy the spaced out smokey psychedelic sounds that Otehi have
wonderfully created yet again. The next track - August - carries on
the warped psychedelics to another level of craziness as Otehi drift
from one crazy episode to another. The vocals become clearer while
the riffs become heavier and more distorted as time goes by. It has
shades of early Monster Magnet running through its veins but that
soon changes into an extended jamming session.
5th
track - Dance Into The Sun - carries on the progressive jam based
riffs that ended the last track for one intense blast of noise that
is played at a mid-tempo pace. This is one of the albums slower paced
songs. Otehi could of speeded things up a bit or add a few different
noises or riffs to the song as it does not really go anywhere towards
then. However, that is my only complaint on the album. The last song
is where Otehi throw everything at you. Take a deep breath as Otehi
are going to take you on a final epic journey that will leave you
battered and bruised from the sheer amount of music they will be
drowning your hearing with. Manitou's Mantra/Sleeping King is an
almost epic 18-minute journey where you are transported to
psychedelic volatile world.
Otehi
have never heard of the word Overkill as the amount of different
noises and riffs will astound you. It is a heavy thunderous ride
where experimentation is the main attraction here. Do I hear Peruvian
pipes or different kind of flutes being played primarily for the
first 6 minutes or so? It is pointless trying to describe this epic
tune. It is disorganized chaos from start to finish
Dead
Chants and Forbidden Melodies is a wonderful musical odyssey that
will last long in the memory. Now if someone can tell me what the
album is about then I will be extremely happy!!
Written by Steve Howe
