Looking Back ......... Les Lekin's ALL BLACK RAINBOW MOON

The best thing about writing your own blog is that you get to choose who you write about and are not just restricted to new releases, so taking advantage of that fact here is a review of one of last years (2014) finest instrumental releases "All Black Rainbow Moon" by Les Lekin an album that made my top 25 releases for 2014 and is an album you should own!

Let's start off with a very brief rundown of the band before getting into the nitty gritty of a review.
Les Lekin are a trio out of Salzburg, Austria who formed around 2011 and are made up of  Peter G.(guitar), Stefan W.(bass) and Kerstin W. (drums). As you can probably guess by the use of a singular letter for their surnames this band like to play their cards very close to their chests, the fact that these guys are on all the important social sites and also have their own web site, finding anything more than rank and serial number about them is a virtual nightmare,  then again it does give them a air of mystique.

Now for the album...
"All Black Rainbow" begins with "Intro" a short burst of shimmering cymbals, slow walking bass and heavily effect drenched arpeggios from Peter G on guitar. Although only 1:39 this track gives the listener a good indication of what to expect from the rest of the album
. I won't go into an in depth track by track dissection of "All Black Rainbow Moon" except to say that this is an album that takes its listener on rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, lights and shades, exploding in a myriad of colours one minute then diving in to the darkest depths the next. The level of musicianship throughout the album is exceptional with Peter G ripping out finger burning solos, shimmering arpeggios and thunderous riffs from his humble six strings. Stefan W's bass playing is a thing of beauty and power, from chest quaking bass riffs that thunder and boom to fluid subtle lines that soothe and warm with their deep caress. Kerstin W is not a tub thumper of any description she has a control and deftness of touch that not only supports the stringed musicians in front of her but drives the sound forward with her exemplary sticksmanship, going from heavy rock bombast to jazzy intricacy in the blink of an eye.

When it comes down to it, most of you stoners, doomers and psychonauts who are reading this blog will already have snapped this album up when it was first released last year but if you have not then I urge you to head over to Bandcamp NOW and buy the CD or download a digital copy you will not regret it!