ALBUM REVIEW: Evil Triplet, "Have A Nice Trip"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/07/2018

Label: Super Secret Records

Is messy riffing intertwined with harmonics, synthesizer swirls and keys your thing? If so, hop on the Evil Triplet space ship and don’t look back.

“Have a Nice Trip” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Space Kitten

2). A Day Like Any Other

3). Aren’t You Experienced?

4). Open Heart

5). Pyramid Eye

6). Apparition

The Review:

Messy riffing intertwined with harmonics, synthesizer swirls and keys? Is that your bag? Then by all means, what the hell are you waiting for? Go grab Evil Triplet’s new album, “Have A Nice Trip”. It’s great!

At first glance, Evil Triplet may sound like your every day psych-rock band. But give this album – and their last one, too – a few spins and you’ll experience the magic coming to the surface. There are melodic subtleties that have me going, did I really just hear that? Then there’s some discordant, angular riffing makes me wonder how someone lands on such an idea. Not only that, but how does one convince the rest of the band to go along? But then again, if you take into account how wet the vocals sound, I guess anything’s possible.

The album’s highlight is definitely “Open Heart.” It’s as close as the band gets to a song with a pop structure. A solid verse leads into a great chorus, and it’s all driven by those messy riffs, synthesizer swirls and keys. “Aren’t You Experienced” is a sprawling cut that lets loose of a lot of song structure but is no less catchy. The song’s lyrics tell a drug-themed tale by way of extra long verses and a concise chorus.

Then there’s the album’s closer, “Apparition.” Depending on the mood of the listener, this song is either a space-ballad or a road rager. As a song, Evil Triplet manage to capture both vibes in one, so the choice is that of the listener’s as to what they want to hear. How trippy is that? And it’s weird stuff like this that adds to the band’s magic.

So again, I ask you – is messy riffing intertwined with harmonics, synthesizer swirls and keys your thing? If so, hop on the Evil Triplet space ship and don’t look back.

“Have a Nice Trip” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Evil Triplet - "Otherworld"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/02/2017

Label: Super Secret Records

Evil Triplet’s laissez-faire, anything can happen attitude works really well. There’s no pretense or chest thumping, just an enjoyable fuzzed out ride.  Evil Triplet throws their own twist to this spacey-stoner formula in how they let the mind altering substances influence their game while plotting out soundscapes as vast as Texas itself.

“Otherworld” CD//DD//LP track listing:

01. Star Ladder
02. Fungus
03. Get a Job
04. Planet I’m On
05. Post Group Date Scene
06. Pyramids
07. We Are the Aliens
08. Worship Satin
09. Road Trips

The Review:  

Those who celebrate the weird unite! Evil Triplet is here, dialing in from the warm and fuzzy Austin, Texas, to bring us a sprawling 72 minute look into the world of weirdo stoner-space rock named, “Otherworld.” Each extended jam is the glue that holds a song together and in turn places the successive songs in context. It’s an album that’s big with its claws dug deep in a keen ear for a strong hook.

It’s close to impossible to discuss “Otherworld” without mentioning the influences that pierce the veil of the songs. Just short of ripping anyone off, Evil Triplet puts on a show of how they’ve applied lessons that they’ve learned from the greats. Such is the case in the chug-a-chug of “We Are the Aliens,” a song that runs like an early Queens of the Stone Age hit, but the 9 minute run time offers up a murky, spaced out vibe to get lost in. This theme of ‘getting lost’ runs through the album, certainly during moments that the instrumentation is expanded to include a Monster Magnet like organ or a hippy-is-as-hippy-does sitar jam. These journeys make Evil Triplet more than just a power trio, they’re a spaced out power trio, and they make this work to their benefit.

In terms of groove, there’s plenty of that, too. Take the shroomer’s anthem “Fungus,” locked in at the track two spot, wasting no time in letting you in on one of the many things that keeps Evil Triplet busy. “Worship Satin” is less about drugs but lacks not in laid back tonal push. Then there’s the sarcastic “Get a Job,” a song that will get you down even if you aren’t unemployed, and the burnt out “Planet I’m On,” which are just two of many examples that show Evil Triplet’s penchant for riding a tasty lick for as long as the wax in a the lava lamp is swimming around. And to tie everything together, there’s the unabashed Steve Marsh behind the microphone, honing in on pitting loose stoner vibes up against a down and out I-wish-I-was-living-in-outer-space-instead story when he sings verses like this:

I took off several hours ago and I left the whole world behind

Looking for the most precious thing, it wasn’t so hard to find

I found it and gave it to the one who needs it

And then I blew my mind!

Evil Triplet’s laissez-faire, anything can happen attitude works really well. There’s no pretense or chest thumping, just an enjoyable fuzzed out ride. Sure, the Wyndorfian influence is felt, as is the So-Cal sunburn that drives this whole stoner rock thing. What makes “Otherworld” flourish is that Evil Triplet throws their own twist to this spacey-stoner formula in how they let the mind altering substances influence their game while plotting out soundscapes as vast as Texas itself.

“Otherworld” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook