A major leap in quality from the debut release, H.P. LOVECRAFT evolved more as a band unit on its 1968 sophomore release simply titled II and eschewed the series of sessions musicians and focused more on tightening up its unique mix of folk rock with 60s psychedelic rock. The increase on the psychedelic features (including the eye-catching album cover) has been accompanied by the legendary claim that H.P. LOVECRAFT II was the very first major label release to have been recorded by musicians who were completely under the influence of LSD. And that's not so hard to believe really, because in June 1968 when the band finally had a chance to go to the studio to begin recording it's second album the members were lacking enough finished material to bring to the worktable which means that a great chunk of of H.P. LOVECRAFT II was totally improvised in the studio and the results were that the album is clearly much more psychedelic than its predecessor as was it more based on the more pacifying sounds of folk music.

The band also lost Jerry McGeorge and was replaced by former Saturday's Children bassist Jeffrey Boyan. The album sounded a lot more in line with the subject matter of its moniker this time around with a trippy lysergic delivery system and lyrics in some tracks such as "At The Mountains of Madness" which thematically narrated the works LOVECRAFT, this particular track focusing on the 1931 novella of the same name. H.P. LOVECRAFT II is also chock filled with psychedelic sound effects and odd drifting into trance-like states. The track "Electrallentando" for example displays a very drugged out display of psychedelic folk that culminates into a hypnotizing period of total escapism and freaky sound effects with only a tribal drum operating as a life to any sort of musical "normalcy." It's moments like this why it's clear H.P. LOVECRAFT were deemed the perfect opening act for Pink Floyd of that era. Even the opening track "Spin Spin Spin" displays a more detached and less commercial sound in relation to the mainstream psych rock that was dominating the charts of the era. Don't get me wrong, the track features an instantly lovable hook however the atmospheres are more on the dark side and the serious tones offer more of an introspective melancholy than any other act of the day.

"It's About Time" is probably the closest thing to what could be called straight forward psychedelic rock on the album starting in a bluesy rock sort of way but then doesn't take too long to melt down into a strangely timed slice of psychedelia with oscillating keyboard effects in the backdrop and a weird time signature that slowly resurrects with a piano and bass groove accompanied by a military march drumbeat until the track finds its footing back to where it becomes a hi-brow classically orchestrated chamber pop number! It then returns back to the blues rock number that soar due to the harmonic excellence team of George Edwards and Dave Michaels. A wild ride for a mere 5 minutes and 20 seconds and it's only the second song! The band's reputation of delivering a spooky and mysterious vibe was probably too much for anyone having a bad trip in the day! This was obviously music for the big boys and girls who could keep their crap together and enjoy the wild and uninhibited explorative nature of H.P. LOVECRAFT's brilliance.

The album only gets trippier as it progresses with the thematically on target "At The Mountains Of Madness" showcasing the band's propensity of delivering strong rock beats while saturating the guitar, bass and drums in extremely eerie atmospheres and this point even the vocal harmonies have gotten stranger. With strange pitch bends and keyboard tricks, H.P. LOVECRAFT simply mastered the art of making a musical representation of its author namesake. The use of studio techniques such as back masking echoed reverse tape effects, swirling keyboard techniques and chaotic acrobatic vocal interplay conspired to make some of the freakiest music the entire 60s could conjure up. The short "Mobius Trip" exists more on in the world of simple folk music but fortified with psychedelic echoes, vocal production reverb and abstruse contemplative lyrics. "High Flying Bird" is perhaps the most uplifting track on board and although heavily dipped in LSD and provides a lyrical optimism of anything is possible if you set your mind to it. It was an early folk rock classic recorded by Judy Henske and Jefferson Airplane. "Naughty Boy" offers a 40 second spoken word narrative with nothing but processed vocals as a backdrop repeating "zero, zero, zero, zero?" The closing "Keeper Of The Keys' offered one last mind melting experience with a stentorian pseudo-operatic vocal performance and a cover of Brewer & Shipley's song.

H.P. LOVECRAFT was as equally revered as a live act as it was for its amazing studio albums. With a repertoire that included aspects of pop, rock, jazz, folk, classical all dipped into the largest cauldron of psychedelia the late 60s had to offer, H.P. LOVECRAFT saw the band peak in its creative prowess making this album one of the absolute unabashed masterpieces of the entire psychedelic era. Light years beyond the mere psychedelic pop of many of its contemporaries unfortunately the band was a bit too far ahead of its time and soon found the band collapsing due to diminishing returns and members pursuing other academic endeavors. Although George Edwards and Michael Tegza tried to resurrect the band under the name Lovecraft, this version would have zero resemblance to these wild and unrestricted psychedelic days and primarily focused on watered down country rock and little interest for true fans of the brilliant early albums. I'm always surprised in how i've heard about a band all my life and think yeah that's interesting and never get to them but when i finally do i'm blown away by the artistic ingenuity around every corner. H.P. LOVECRAFT was one of those band's that really delivered on all front's and this second album H.P. LOVECRAFT II was as good as it got leaving it as the band's legacy.

One of the more interesting psychedelic rock band of the 1960s, H.P. LOVECRAFT initially formed in Chicago before heading to San Francisco and releasing two albums before going through a series of lineup changes and band name shifts. Somewhat inspired musically by Jefferson Airplane and Spirit, H.P. LOVECRAFT was unlike many bands of the time by naming itself after the horror writer and crafted a music that as eerie, haunting and macabre all within the confines of the world of psychedelic rock. The band's sound was rather unique by combining elements of psychedelia with folk rock, jazz and made all the more dynamic by classically trained pianist Dave Michaels.

By using lead ex-folk singer George Edwards' unique vocal style as the focal point along with multi-octave singer Dave Michaels as a harmonic counterpoint, H.P. LOVECRAFT showcased a more intelligent approach to lyrical delivery as well as a more competent display of instrumental mastery especially heard on the organ playing of keyboardist Dave Michaeis who also offered piano, harpsichord, clarinet and recorder. Early on the band had a larger instrumentation than most so called psych bands of the day as well with George Edwards not only providing lead vocals but also guitars and bass, Jerry McGeorge on bass, Tony Cavallari on lead guitar and Michael Tegza on drums and timpani. The band was signed to Philips Records in 1967 and released it's first single "Anyway That You want Me" before this first album was released (and it wasn't included). Once relocated to San Francisco, H.P. LOVECRAFT became a regular at various venues including The Fillmore and the Hinterland Ballroom.

The band released its debut self-release in 1967 and featured even more sounds from guest musicians that included bells, piccolo flute, English horn, saxophone, reeds, trombone, tuba, vibraphone and horn arrangement which is why H.P. LOVECRAFT has been deemed one of the early proto-progressive bands for its ambitious songwriting and intricate instrumentation. The self-titled debut was a bit different having emerged in October 1967 in the fact that was typical of many 60s releases in featuring a fair number of covers rather than originally penned material. In the case of H.P. LOVECRAFT's debut many were interpretations of traditional or contemporary folk songs with some being a bit more obscure and the most obvious being the Chet Powers song "Let's Get Together" which would become a top 5 hit for The Youngbloods in 1969. The album was preceded by the opening "Wayfaring Stranger" which provided the first single which displays perfectly the band's unique energy and stylistic potpourri under the guise of 60s psychedelic rock.

Despite the covers, the debut album actually flows quite well with H.P. LOVECRAFT making it all its own. The band delivered a tight competent 60s rock sound with an extra kudos going to the excellent keyboard playing sometimes taking on a Baroque classical scope of virtuosity. The album's most famous cut was also its longer, the 6 1/2 minute "The White Ship" and although not hitting any pop charts set the tone of the band's mysterious demeanor and musical competency. The harmonies between George Edwards and Dave Michaels are outstanding as well as the brooding rhythmic flow. "The Time Machine" is a strange oddity as it starts off as a ragtime Vaudville style foot tapper but then drifts into a strange psychedelic haze before heading back to Vaudville. "That's How Much I Love, Baby (More Or Less)" showcases the band's easy in adding jazzy elements to its repertoire. The album surprisingly ends with a short 33 second liturgical chant "Gloria Patria."

Despite quite a few covers of traditionals and contemporary songs on the debut album, this band was clearly unlike any other and proved to remain a little outside the accessibility for the drugged out hippies who weren't looking for intellectual stimulation but rather the next form of escapism. A unique intelligent band that expressed itself within the psychedelic scene, H.P. LOVECRAFT's debut may not be as great as its follower but it's utterly amazing how well these guys pulled off an album's worth of originals mixed with covers. Personally i like this one a lot. Had i been around back then i certainly would've gravitated to these guys over Jefferson Airplane anyway!

These days the 1960s band IRON BUTTERFLY has virtually become a synonym for the band's biggest selling album and single "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." I mean who could even think of anything else the band has released, with the exception of heavy psych addicts of course. While true that the band's 1968 album which has to date over 30 million albums worldwide completely eclipses any other thing the band had released, the band is not only still officially together (albeit in name only) but released a total of six albums from 1968 to 1975.

HEAVY was the band's debut and although the IRON BUTTERFLY is credited for influencing both progressive rock and the heavy metal scenes that would develop, in 1968 when this album was released, we're not talking HEAVY in today's vernacular referring to loud, raucous and quickened but rather 60s style as in "man, that's heavy!" Yeah here HEAVY refers to cosmically deep which was what the psychedelic 60s were all about of course with some bands a bit more adroit at tapping into their inner cosmic nature than others.

IRON BUTTERFLY was the product of the West Coast psychedelic scene which took over the USA during the latter half of the 1960s however this band emerged from the unexpected conservative city of San Diego. The band's lineup changed substantially even before this debut was released with this first album of 1968 which appeared in January featuring Doug Ingle (organ, vocals), Ron Bushy (drums), Darryl DeLoach (tambourine, vocals), Jerry Penrod (bass, vocals) and Danny Weis (guitar). Although "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" would quickly follow in June of the same year, the lineup had already been reduced to a quartet with only Bushy and Ingle remaining.

Graced with the coolest and most groovy album cover of the band's career which depicted a statue of a giant ear, the music itself is nothing really to get overly excited about. While referred to as hard rock retrospectively, this was not even close to the noise level of contemporary bands like Blue Cheer or even some tracks from The Kinks. What HEAVY offers is a 30-minute ride into the world of 60s psychedelic acid rock based on blues rock, beat music and rhythm and blues. The tracks at this point were quite short with most only a couple minutes long.

This is a pleasant slice of late 1960s acid rock with a strong emphasis on dramatic organs and eccentric vocals however the music is basically blues rock that seems like it just got its feet wet in the world of psychedelia. Despite the plaudits the band has received as a proto-prog or proto-metal band, none of those have manifested on this debut album HEAVY which unfortunately doesn't convey its modern titular connotations. While the music doesn't exactly blow me away i have to say that i like the moody vocals quite a bit and how can you not possibly love that bitchin cool cover art? THAT's worth the price of admission alone!

3.5 stars. Nick Mason is of course most known for being the drummer for PINK FLOYD, but he also was a Producer who produced some notable albums in between recording and touring with FLOYD. He has a lot of musical connections and this album almost feels like a celebration of that. Nick is so generous and I have no doubt that even though this is a Carla Bley record, that he foot the bill during these recording sessions in New York City. That's one thing but then to be humble enough to have this album be released under his own name knowing it would sell more copies is another thing. And his name is in the title of the album just so people got it. Carla wrote the lyrics, composed the music and produced this record.

The album comes off as being a renewing of friendships and the making of new ones I'm sure. They are having a lot of fun and while I wouldn't call this Canterbury music at all, it does have that spirit with the naughty lyrics at times and humour. While this is Carla's baby her husband Michael Mantler engineered it and plays trumpet on here. And lets talk about who is on here. The lineup surpasses the music big time in my opinion. Besides Mantler's trumpet we have Gary Windo on horns and flute, Chris Spedding guitar, Steve Swallow bass, Robert Wyatt and Karen Kraft vocals and Nick Mason drums, and he co-produced this with Carla. Carla plays keyboards on here.

This was released in 1981 but recorded late in 1979 after "The Wall" sessions. This is where Nick was de-stressing from those "The Wall" recordings where Roger was in fine form. Michael Mantler released a solo album in 1976 called "The Hapless Child And Other Inscrutable Stories" and Nick mixed that record and added some spoken word bits. That album had Wyatt, Bley and Swallow as well as Jack DeJohnette and Terje Rypdal. Mantler's next solo album from '77 had Chris Spedding on it while his 1978 record called "Movies" had Swallow, Bley as well as Tony Williams on drums and Larry Coryel on guitar. His 1980 "More Movies" has Bley, Swallow, Windo as well as Philip Catherine guitar and D. Sharpe drums a long time collaborator with Carla and doing backing vocals here on "Fictitious Sports".

I just wanted to show the connections with all of these wonderful musicians and albums, this is the one where they let their hair down and enjoyed themselves. Having said that the closer on here "I'm A Mineralist" sounds like a Steven Wilson song, in fact I have no doubt he took inspiration from this. Even during the harmonies I'm going "This is Wilson all the way." Melancholic as Wyatt tells a story. The disappointment is those female vocal melodies bringing to mind "The Great Gig In The Sky" but more subdued I guess you could say late on "Hot River".

Several years ago I felt this was a low 4 star record based really on what it is, but if I'm honest with myself this is a true 3.5 star record, inconsistent with some moments for sure.

It was past the halfway point of the decade of the mandatory side long suite and still nothing of the sort from GWENDAL. This must have precipitated quite the discussion amongst the band members, who clearly didn't have anything in the can to support an "epic or bust" doctrine. But hey, with most of these samey jigs and reels, and with maybe a bit less on the jazz front, no listener would be able to tell if we started off with something a bit more creative and then interlaced an odd half dozen rejects from the first 2 albums, giving it an overarching grandiose name like "Mon Joly Scooter", which segues flawlessly into my other point: virtually none of the shorter tracks, whether within or without this unambiguously unambitious concoction, even raises its shackles let alone snips them. Thankfully a few re-interpretations of standards like "Cam Ye all Frae France" and "Butterfly" are welcome even if they would have been little more than reinforced padding on the group's previous album, from which "A vos desirs" represents a couple of missed steps down the evolutionary ladder.

The beginning of one of the greatest rock bands in history and largely responsible for such offshoots as heavy metal came at the dawn of 1969 with the release of their eponymous debut album, "Led Zeppelin". Led by singer Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, one of the former guitarists of the legendary Yardbirds, less than 30 hours in the recording studios were enough to shake up the music scene of the time with a proposal that borrowed (and often more than borrowed...) elements from American fifties blues, soul, folk and psychedelia, and put them in a cocktail shaker adding their own unique energy and forcefulness.

That sonic assault is present in all the nuances that Led Zeppelin knew how to make use of, such as the early hard rock in Page's boxed guitar riffs in the fleeting aggressiveness of "Good Times, Bad Times" and "Communication Breakdown", or the spirited folk vein of the excellent "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You", a piece adapted from the singer of the genre Anne Bredon and also covered by Joan Baez, or the intense blues of the superlative "You Shook Me" and the Hammond of John Paul Jones going beyond his role as bass player and "I Can't Quit You Baby" with the Plant/Page duo in a superb voice/guitar duel, both pieces unbeatable adaptations taken from the American bluesman Wilie Dixon.

And the combination of blues and psychedelia of the experimental "Dazed and Confused" (in my opinion the best track on the album and not without some skirmishes with the American singer-songwriter Jack Holmes over royalties), and "How Many More Times" with Page at the helm of the bowed guitar (so called because of the use of the violin bow instead of a pick to achieve that particular sound) and John Bonham in great form as on the whole album, complete the collage of the auspicious debut of the English band.

A new way of understanding and interpreting music was born with Led Zeppelin and their iconic first album is still an obligatory reference today.

4 stars

The one and only attempt by young percussion virtuoso of SANTANA fame to produce an album as a bandleader.

1. "Aba Cua" (1:36) a drum circle of hand percussionists expressing with vocal chant/call (with no response). (4.33333/5)

2. "Frankincense" (7:02) a high-flying if loosely-conjoined hydra of instrumentalists moving along as if in the same direction yet without many constraints. Sounds very much like something that could have come from Al Di Meola's first two albums except the drummer is trying too hard, the bass line too monotonous, and the sonic field too disparate and incongruous despite all staying admirably on the same pace, the solos too repetitive and monotonous. (13/15)

3. "Heartsong" (8:20) great performances with excellent engineering and effects of a nice composition. Though there is more cohesion in sound and more variation in tempo and motif here, unfortunately, the song uses the same weird, slightly-flanged drum sound from the previous song--which might work with a less-frenetic drummer but this guy must think he's Keith Moon. I do, however, like the guitar solo of Randy Sellgren: he blazes with great consistency and "real" feeling fire. The motif change at 4:30 is perfect: from racing to regal and beautiful, everybody fully engaged with this one (except the drummer who starts flailing away beneath the guitarist's in the sixth minute. The fully-rock motif that starts at 5:50 is okay, very Jan Hammer-like, which supports a sweltering ARP Odyssey synth solo over the seventh and eighth minutes before everybody comes together for the finale--which is cheesy and poor. (17.75/20)

4. "The Wizard" (7:35) a song that is familiar to us all from Al Di Meola's cover of it on his debut album, Land of the Midnight Sun. A great song for racing along the highway, packed with memorable melodies and musicianship, but this version is more percussion dominant and contains a rather annoying high-pitch droning synthesizer note for a big chunk of its more dynamic sections. Overall, it's a little too loose and chaotic for my ears and brain. (13.25/15)

5. "Visions Of Another Time" (6:30) opens with what sounds like an Egyptian melody theme as introduced to them by the Anunnaki, again percussion and fast-pacing are the two predominant elements though there are some melodic elements worth pursuing that are led by multiple synths while the rhythmatists go crazy beneath. It's just a little too much chaos for my puny little brain. Then, lo! and behold! the music suddenly shifts into a "All Along the Watchtower" kind of chord progression with clavinet and harpsichord leading while someone (probably Mingo) sings a NewAge-y message over the top. The new Latin-based motif is okay--at least taming the percussionists into a more refined crew-- but the vocal and guitar lead are only okay. (8.75/10)

6. "Trapezoid" (4:46) funk of the Parliamentary kind with multiple instruments dripping with funk in a pretty perfect weave of funkiness: bass, clavinet, multiple synths, drums, rhythm guitar, and congas all propelling this monster of a song forward in "Space Race" way that Billy Preston would be proud if not envious of! I only wish there was a more catchy melody to hook everybody in. (9.5/10)

7. '"Maginary Monsters" (1:02) experimental synth play. They must be drunken monsters. (4.33333/5)

8. "Flight Never Ending" (8:30) though this album is teeming with similarities to AL DI MEOLA's Land of the Midnight Sun album of the same year, none more than this somewhat cinematic suite: of its 8:30 about eight minutes and 29 seconds feel as if they are straight out of Al Di's world. How could this be possible, you might ask--especially when this album was released to the public a full month before Al's? Well, James had toured with Al's previous band, RETURN TO FOREVER (as well as Santana) and been a major contributor to the recording sessions for 22-year old Al's debut solo album which occurred in July and August of 1975 (sic [?!] More likely July and August of 1976). "Mingo" was surely inspired to try to replicate the energy and sound of the wave he'd been riding for the past three years and quite possibly was able to finagle the support from Columbia for this album--which became a "one-off" despite his playing on four other Al Di albums (as well as Billy Joel, The Tubes, and Todd Rundgren) over the next decade. But who are these no-name musicians? As alluded to in my opening statement, this would have been a worthy inclusion to any Al Di Meola album--even with "Randy Sellgren" playing guitar. (18/20)

Total Time 45:21

This much attention and volume given to frantic percussionists is Al Di Meola sound-alike Randy Sellgren is rumored to have been a psuedonym for another artist who had to stay hidden due to conflicting contractual obligations. That would help explain the fact that guitar phenom Randy appears on no other albums in music history--though there are Randy Sellgren's mentioned in the engineering/production credits to a few albums over the years--nothing else as a guitarist. Weird, hunh?

B/four stars; a worthy album of inclusion in one's Jazz-Rock Fusion collection--though not necessarily for the light of heart; an album that contains many moments of individual virtuosity as well as a bucketload of memorable moments is somewhat weighted down by the "Emperor Joseph II Syndrome": sometimes there are just "too many notes"--and not always coherently arranged. The album also suffers slightly, in my opinion, from some questionable sound engineering choices.

Legit Jazz-Rock Fusion from Czechoslovakia that is quite mature and dextrous if somewhat derivative/imitative of the power fusion bands that formed in the USA and England a few years earlier.

A. "Ráno (Morning Part I)" (17:25) opens with a brooding Latin-based RETURN TO FOREVER-like MAHAVISHNU motif over which guitarist Lubos Andrst plays an impressive Jan Hammer-like solo for the third and fourth minutes. Bridge at 3:30 leads into a motif shift: this one being more syncopated and funky--especially from Jan Vytrhlík's bass and Emil Viklický 's electric piano. Also the conga play of Jirí Tomek stands out more in this passage as sax and electric piano try leading in the melody-making department while everybody else seems to be having a fantastic SANTANA-like jam beneath them. Rudolf Tichácek's soprano sax playing is okay: always coming in bursts, never smoothing out or choosing melody over dynamics. The next solo is from Emil's electric piano: his being a little smoother than Rudolf's but still conforming to the more-percussive staccato approach for its delivery. But, once he gets going he'll occasionally get into some runs or some cool chord progressions. At 10:20 there is a slowdown and break for transition into a slightly different motif for Lubos to take another try at the lead. His playing approach definitely treads more into the territory of John McLauglin and Larry Coryell, though my brain keeps hearing Jan Hammer more than any guitarist. I like the way Emil Viklický keeps prodding the soloists (not just Lubos) with his keyboard interjections-- pushing them to go further than they might without him. In the fifteenth minute there is a complete deconstruction of the rhythm track while Lubos and Emil continue to play around a bit, then in the first half of the 16th minute the band returns to the opening RTF-like motif as Rudolf takes us out with his soprano sax. (31.25/35)

B1. "Paprsek Ranního Slunce (The Early Sunray)" (4:40) countrified jazz rock that sounds like Jay Beckenstien's SPYRO GYRA merged with the OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS and DIXIE DREGS. Impressive guitar play begins around the two-minute mark and then seamlessly leads the band into a cool Mahavishnu-like motif switch. Now, this is great J-R Fusion! At least until it shifts back to BOB JAMES "Angela" territory at the four minute mark. Luckily it ends with some more of those impressive keyboard-and-electric guitar machine gun runs. (8.875/10)

B2. "Noční Motýl (Night-Butterfly)" (7:50) electric guitar harmonics open this, reinforced with electric piano play--which soon occupies two tracks, the two electric pianos using completely different settings. The more piano-sounding ep begins taking the lead from the guitar with some classical-like runs, but then, in the fourth minute a deep, pulsing, muddy foundation is committed to by the full rhythm section, which sets Emil Viklický off on a Fender Rhodes tirade before heavily-effected (Moog-sounding) electric guitar joins in and pushes his way to the front. A Moog synthesizer enters and begins competing with Lubos for the lead, dueling and playing off one another with a ferocity comparable to (yet never quite achieving the heights of) that of John McLaughlin and Jan Hammer. This doesn't last very long before the band devolves into a rich, Fender-dominated sound field for a lovely finish. Definitely a top three song for me. (13.75/15)

B3. "Apoteóza (Apotheosis)" (2:55) more Mahavishnu Orchestra-inspired Jazz-Rock Fusion that includes another presence of the Moog synthesizer. (8.875/10)

B4. "Ráno (Morning Part II)" (4:05) what starts out as a kind of a loose, unstructured unwinding for all of the instrumentalists turns into a simple conga solo for the fadeout finish. (8.66667/10)

Total Time: 36:55

B+/four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you like the dynamic Jazz-Rock Fusion of early versions/experimentations of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Larry Coryell, and Return To Forever.

"Levels of Perception" is the tenth full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Pestilence. The album was released through Agonia Records in April 2024. It features twelve re-recordings of tracks which have appeared on some of the band´s earlier releases. Not all preceding albums are represented (there are no re-recordings of tracks from "Malleus Maleficarum" (1988) or from "Spheres" (1994)), but all other Pestilence studio albums are represented with at least one track each...

...and the tracklist is up for debate. It seems a bit odd to me, why Pestilence would chose to re-record no less than four tracks from their last album "Exitivm". Re-recordings are usually done to show how a current version of a group plays older classic material, but it seems Pestilence had another vision with "Levels of Perception". "Consuming Impulse" (1989) and "Testimony of the Ancients" (1991) are represented by two tracks each (I guess they didn´t dare leave out "Out of the Body") but that´s the only pre-reformation material featured on "Levels of Perception". It´s not that Pestilence more current material isn´t decent, but it just seems a bit strange to re-record material from 2021 on a 2024 release.

When that is said, there are unfortunately much, much worse things to say about "Levels of Perception" which is through and through a horrible release. I can´t call it anything else than an abomination and a terrible misstep in the discography of Pestilence. The material is what it is, but the performances and some of the new arrangements are tame and uninspired. Honestly it almost made me cry listening to the re-recordings of "Twisted Truth" and "Out of the Body", which are two of my absolute favorite Pestilence tracks, both of which are butchered here (Patrick Mameli how could you?).

But the performances and the weak vocals from Mameli aren´t even the worst here...it´s the production values. The drums were recorded live at one studio in 2021 and everything else was overdubbed at other studios during the next couple of years. Many artists have made live recordings of drums in the studio and have gotten great results from it, but that can´t be said about the drums on "Levels of Perception", which sound like they were recorded at a rehearsal space (and not at a studio like they are) using an old fashioned four-track tape recorder. This is demo quality sound production values. And it´s not just the drums. The guitars feature an odd high end tone which is grating on the ears, Mameli´s voice is distorted and you can´t always make out the words he sings (which usually isn ´t an issue on Pestilence albums), and the bass is completely disconnected from the rest of the instruments in the mix...and bass player Joost van der Graaf often sounds like he is playing another song than the rest of the members of the band.

A pretty harsh critique, which I´m not happy to deliver since Pestilence have long been some of my heroes, but I have to call it like I see it. Honesty and full disclosure. Pestilence have some work to do, to drag themselves back from this disaster. Their next album better be the best album they have released since reforming in 2008 or they may find themselves a fan or two short. You don´t come back from something like this without some careful consideration and reflection in terms of what went wrong, and what should we never do again...a 1.5 star (30%) rating is warranted. I´m tempted to give an even lower rating, but I´m trying to be fair and at least give Pestilence some sort of credit for existing, but there really isn´t much to give them credit for after listening to this album.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

An odd cornucopia of blues-rock, brass-rock, jazz-rock, Afro-rock music that gives the listener the feeling that this band was still forming, still trying to figure out the direction it was going to go with its music.

A1. "Past Present And Future" (9:50) heavily-distorted rock bass play with the accompaniment of cymbal play opens this one before sax, trombone, and electric guitar join in acting as a kind of horn section. W. Raphael Joseph's guitar takes the first solo, a brief one, before Ray Rhoden's organ takes over while the bass and percussionists below keep the momentum moving forward. Sleepy Jack Joseph's two note bass line gets rather annoying so I feel quite relieved when the music shifts at 4:20 to a more R&B-oriented parade plod. The horns feel as if they're supposed to be the featured sound in this section but they don't do anything exciting or adventurous. Then a little bridge at the six-minute mark signifies a shift into a keybaor-less section in which Raphael solos again (again briefly). Then the organ returns and another very monotonous four-note rhythm track is established to support a trombone solo. This music is so very simple! Even the drumming sounds so rudimentary (not to give the drummers rudiments a bad name). (16.5/20) A2. "Disillusioned Man" (4:58) nice conga rhythm track opens this one before Keith Emerson-like organ joins in, leading the in-rushing of the rest of the bands, this time with sax acting more alone. Vocals start before the end of the first minute, a kind of Soulful variation of the BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS shtick. Smoky Adams has a nice voice: he pulls of some nice melody-making with some thoughtful lyrics over some very interesting music. The now-interesting near- minimalist weave then supports an extended soprano sax solo from Paddy Corea. (His instrument sounds much like an Irish Uilleann pipes.) A much more impressive song than that sad opener. (8.875/10) A3. "Another Country" (8:28) after hearing the opening of this, the album's third song, I had to check back with the year of publication of this album: its rhythm tracks sound so 1969/70 Blood Sweat & Tears/Chicago Brass Rock! More singing on this one--a song that is more complicated musically, which makes Smokey Adam's job more difficult (finding a catchy, smooth-flowing melody to fit this herky-jerky music would be tough). A big shift into a different motif occurs in the third minute to what will become the firm but gentle support for an extended tenor sax solo. The new motif, while quite simple, is in actual fact quite hypnotic. Weird! (17.5/20)

B1. "Hymn To Mother Earth" (8:10) what begins as a kind of a turns into a rather plaintive ballad of hope Luckily, it turns back into a driving, though still simplistic, blues-rocker with some nice work from the rhythm section--especially drummer Steven John. At the halfway point another brass-led motif bridges us into a nice, hypnotic rhythm pattern for a sax solo. The music returns to the ecologically-motivated vocal motif around the six minute mark and thereafter continues flowing in and out of the dynamic and slow motifs--like a Jimi Hendrix Experience song style. Overall, this is a very interesting song--especially in its construction but also for the fact that Smokey Adams can manage a fairly successful, even-keeled vocal over the top. (13.25/15)

B2. "Mercy (Variation No. 1)" (9:20) Opening with an obnoxious riff of organ arpeggio played with a slightly more interesting rhythm track from the rest of the band which then gradually straightens out to provide support and guidance for trombone and saxophone solos over the next few minutes. The percussion play within this one makes it, in my opinion, the only song that treads across the ocean into some native African sounding musical territory. Nice work Aynde Folarin, Paddy Corea, Steven John, and Sleepy Jack! Organist Ray Rhoden tries to inject some Egypt into the mix with a stereotypic Black Land arpeggio in the final minute. An okay song that still could have been better-- more dynamic and energetic as so many drum-and-percussion-oriented African traditional musics are. (17.5/20)

Total time: 39:46

I do not feel or hear any profound or obvious connection to African music other than the possibilitiy of the performers being likely African-American. I do, however, hear a very slight Jamaican/Reggae inflection in a lot of the songs. Overall, this is a very pleasant, almost innocuous album to listen to, but there is nothing here that I feel is very fresh or innovative.

B-/3.5 stars; a fair album from musicians that can obviously do better--especially compared to that lame opening song. Would that the Side 1 had been more like Side 2--and Side 2 been more adventurous.