Band:	Spectral Haze
Album:	I.E.V.: Transmutated Nebula Remains
Style:	Psychedelic rock, Stoner metal
Release date:	November 2014

01. I.E.V. I - Circumambulating Mount Meru
02. Mercurian Mantra
03. Black Gandharvas
04. I.E.V. II - Observing The Centre Of Infinity
05. Descent Through The Intravoidal
06. Triads And Trishulas

Psychedelic music and its various derivatives have been making quite the strong comeback in the past decade, with a significant amount of younger bands now putting their own spin on the psilocybin-drenched sounds of the genre's forefathers. Newcomers Spectral Haze are hitting us hard this year as one of them, and they're ready to show us what all this fractal and ego death nonsense is really about.

I.E.V.: Transmutated Nebula Remains, the debut of this Norwegian four piece, is quite simply a force to be reckoned with. There's a lot of Hawkwind/Monster Magnet worship going on here, and the vibes go down hard. Immediately with the opening track we're plunged into another dimension with these psychonauts, complete with steady, repetitive grooves to evoke a trance state, more electronic effects than a Christian Bale movie, and the classic psychedelic guitar style, free flowing and dropping a few of its own solo notes here and there, but never losing sight of the main rhythm at hand. Your typical "aaah-aahh-ahhh" sort of vocals drift in and out here and there as well, but are largely dominated by the instrumentation. This is of no issue, however, as the music is already powerful enough even without vocals, and were Spectral Haze to go strictly instrumental, they could easily stand as worthy challengers to contemporaries such as Electric Moon and The Cosmic Dead.

Perhaps the strongest feature of the songwriting aspect of Spectral Haze's debut, however, is its fantastic sense of flow. All the tracks seem to blend and mesh together, which goes over excellently with this sort of music, as it creates a very Dark Side Of The Moon/Warrior On The Edge Of Time sort of feeling, the sense that the album is just one massive trip in itself, with each track only being a slight variation within it. The production is spot on as well: wide, "whole," and all enveloping, the sort of "space vacuum" effect that psychedelic music simply can't do without.

Without question, Spectral Haze are a band to keep your eye on. The idea of spacey acid rock is nothing new in itself, but the way these guys lay it down is enough to make you think that this album was released back in the early 70s if you didn't know any better. Along with the new Earth and Wo Fat albums, this is probably the best psychedelic album I've heard all year, and it's a powerful reminder to us that this style of music is alive, well, and perhaps stronger than ever. What would Timothy Leary be listening to if he was alive today? Quite likely Spectral Haze.

Not out for about another month, but in the meantime you can stream the band's demo, which, although a little less refined, is still an excellent work in itself.