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Mercuriturn
Issue
#55
Nov.
'03
I
walked into 7th grade Music class naïve
and expecting no more
than a last row seat and a year of
scales, notes, boring Classical
instrumentals, and Operatic solos. I never could
have imagined how that
class would change my life. Part of that change was the many different
musical
styles I was introduced to while sitting there intently listening to
all the
sounds pouring out of the turntable. One sound in particular stands out
to this
day: Acid Rock. My teacher chose the Iron Butterfly classic “Inna-Godda-Da-Vita”
as representation for this genre. Acid Rock evolved out of the
Psychedelic
experimental rock of the late 60s. Bands such as Iron Butterfly, Cream,
Blue
Cheer, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience took the concept of mind
tripping
musical exploration and applied it to Heavy Metal. Acid Rock had such
impact
that it was immediately identified with the muse behind it.
Fast forward to the 21st century about a decade
since the birth of
Emo. The grand and glorious scheme of music is that all genres survive
to be
reborn and morphed into the needs of the times; Emo is Acid Rock Lite
with a
subtle hint of psychedelica. Enter Mercuriturn.
Mercuriturn is Acid Rock; it uses the guitar
as the instrument that
unlocks the doors into the subliminal demons of the mind. The disc
opens with “Behind
Me,” using a throbbing bass and drenching
guitar that stretches itself
out as it walks us down the hallways of the insane asylum of the mind,
while
relating the story of someone trapped in the present because of his
past; it is
a prerequisite to the trip this disc is about to lay on us.
Using a simple cover of what could be a cell dividing itself in two, or
an
oddly shaped mask, the metaphors implied reach us through the
complexity of the
music. Given little else except for the back cover photo of guitars,
amps,
cables, and beer bottles strewn about a dimly lit room, the track
listing, and
an inside B&W picture of a guy sitting in an easy chair with
guitars on
either side, we are left to understand Mercuriturn
by intently listening
to all the sounds pouring out of the disc player.
Mercuriturn covers the gamut of the pioneers
and perfectors of the Acid
Rock scene of the late 60s/early 70s. Mixed, engineered, and produced
in such
fashion as to bring out the brilliance of the era, Mercuriturn
is a
worthy successor to the throne that has been virtually empty since Pink
Floyd’s
implosion after the Animals LP (we don’t count The Wall). In
fact, picture Pink
Floyd fronted by Jimi Hendrix channeling Syd Barrett and backed by
Cream
playing Led Zeppelin-esque rhythm tracks, and you’re
beginning to get Mecuriturn.
As further evidence we need only to direct your ears to “Rolled
Into One”
– It’s Jimi Hendrix through a black curtain of bass
and drums. There are double
and triple tracked vocal harmonies riding upon a wall of electric
guitar while
the rhythm remains steady, flaunting resistance while relishing control
over
the command of the 60s style layered guitar riffs delivered straight
from the
hammers of the gods.
Feel “Searchlights,”
where right from the opening chords of
distortion the layered guitars leap from the speakers and take on the
quality
of lights searching the sky. Listen to the music and you can see the
lights
crossing back and forth as the vocals thrust us forth into the trip
that is
taking place amid the fog of this mental haze, while searing through
the riffs
and bombast galore. In “Bed of Water,”
we can feel the guitar
pick slicing through the strings while the fingers wrap around the neck
and
strangle note after note out of it, leaving us gasping
While it is the Heavy Metal intense inward turned style of over the top
playing
that dominates the central theme of the altered mind journey that
delves into
the recesses and inner sanctums of personal transgressions, there still
is apt
representation of the mellower side. “You
Just Might Find” offers
awesome electro-acoustic instrumentation underneath, while the electric
guitar
soars above with a dizzying array of pedals (Wha-Wha, Fuzz, reverb, and
various
other distortions). This song also showcases unusual time changes, and
depressingly insightful lyrics – “There’s
less in life/than what appears to
be.” “So Alone”
wraps the Waters and Gilmour Guitar God
instrument of/to the mind into an ether huffing Emo fused Acid take on
the
classic Bugs Bunny episode where the mad scientist is chasing the
rabbit –
“Come…back…here…lit…tle
…bun…ny…rab…bit.”
“Slow Down”
is a
rustic, country-esque ballad that boasts transcending guitars and the
use of
Bongos and various drum/percussion beats. It lends itself to a coffee
house
style sit-in among the enlightened beat poets, where they advise us to
“come
down/from your ivory tree” and to “slow
down/take a second and breathe,”
which is as much a part of the whole when reflecting on the rule of the
genre.
The closing pair of songs, “In Here”
(a modern day “No Way
Out Of Here”) and “Closer
To Somewhere” build on big
amped acoustics with dreamlike vocals that are drawn from the Art/Prog
Rock of
the early to Mid 70s and have us aching to see the Mercuriturn
guitar
arsenal. We want to know how these sounds are coaxed out of these
guitars. How
much is live, and how much is studio tinkering? In this
reviewer’s opinion the
majority of the guitar playing and effects are played live, while the
studio
was reserved for the multi-tracking and overlays. Basic rhythm bass and
drum
parts were probably done live, as well as filled in at the studio. All
in all,
what we have is an amazing production of a musical style that has been
swallowed by modern day culture and spit back out as Emo, but which Mercuriturn
chews and savors. They present the proof that this is still a viable
form of
expression, especially when dealing with the isolation and paranoia
that the
depths and turmoil of our mind reveals, when bent and altered into
states of
consciousness only recognizable through such creative outlets as that
of
art/music.
Mercuriturn Rocks the inner sanctum of the
mind with a hit of Acid Rock,
and this time we’re no naive 7th
grader.
Mercuriturn
available now for $ 9.98 +
s/h*
$5.98 + s/h*
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