Band:	Alconaut
Album:	Endless Skies
Style:	Stoner metal
Release date:	May 2023

01. The Causality
02. Slugs
03. Lost
04. Ascending I : The Departure
05. Ascending II : Journey
06. Ascending III : Endless Skies
07. Icarus Down
08. Gelmir's Path
09. Earthbound

Endless Skies, the sophomore effort from Corsican stoner metal trio Alconaut, is the latest album that I’ve claimed to review purely based on the artwork. I’ve had mixed success with this approach before; how has it worked out this time?

The artwork gives slightly mixed messages; Alconaut’s band logo uses pretty much the same font as Sleep on the 2012 re-release of Dopesmoker, but the elaborate night-time forest scene depicted on the cover hints at perhaps a more mystical offering that the pure crushing fuzz of Sleep. As it turns out, the latter is more fitting in the case of Endless Skies, but it’s not overly so, as Alconaut dabble with quite a few different sounds that fall under the psychedelic/stoner rock and metal umbrellas across this album. It doesn’t do all of these sounds perfectly, but it does some of them pretty well, and some more of them in a very enjoyable manner.

The closest Alconaut get to the weight of Sleep is on “Lost”; it’s not a doom song, but the band do slow down and put a bit of added fuzz into its slick, groovy riffs, while also putting a little bit of edge onto the shouted vocals. They sound pretty good when going hard like this, but I do have to admit my favourite portion of the song is its mellower guitar solo section midway through. This solo is perhaps more in line with the preceding song, “Slugs”, which, like late-album cuts “Icarus Down” and “Gelmir’s Dawn”, feels very much part of the more classic desert rock sound, with plenty of bluesy licks. There’s still range between the songs, though; “Slugs” is on the slower side and throws in some psychedelic keyboards, while “Gelmir’s Dawn” ups the ante pace-wise.

These tracks are all very decent in their own ways, but I also find them to each be slightly unremarkable examples of their respective sounds; an album filled with such songs would be above average, but not greatly so. Where Endless Skies really shines is in the middle with the three parts of “Ascending”. This trilogy sees Alconaut dabbling with some of the unhurried psychedelia of bands such as Weedpecker, and progginess of Samsara Blues Experiment and earlier Elder. “The Departure” is both an evocative scene-setter and a strong full song in its own right, with a lot of soothing vibe-building by the acoustic and clean guitars alongside some heavier riffing.

What follows it is even better, however; “Journey” lives up to its name, shifting between fierce fuzzy riffs and more lush guitar lead-driven passages, culminating in a serene closing passage with guitar harmonies, acoustic strumming and psychedelic shimmering keys. The title track steps things up further by throwing harmonica into the equation, adding a folk cuteness to the smooth vibes of the song’s melodic jams. It’s a pretty fantastic trilogy of songs, and it’s a shame that Endless Skies doesn’t dig into a lot of the sounds featured on them on its remaining tracks, with the only real exception the brief yet uplifting closing instrumental “Earthbound”.

Endless Skies is a bit of a tale of two albums; it’s a respectable psychedelic/desert rock album with a sumptuous proggy stoner odyssey sandwiched in between. It’s pretty clear from the tone of this review which style I would be eager for Alconaut to focus on more with their subsequent releases, although there’s no real need for them to prioritize one over the other, as the songs don’t sound out of place when sat together. How Alconaut evolve remains to be seen, but I sense that they potentially have a really great record in their locker, and will keep tabs on them going forward in anticipation.