Looking Back......... Road To Kurti from Oxford trio Caravan of Whores

Time to step into the time machine again and this time we are going back to 2012 for what was one of my first, and still one of my favourite, purchases from Bandcamp. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you "Road To Kurti" from Oxford,UK's Caravan of Whores.

Recorded in Wales in 2012 and hot on the heels of their debut EP " A Cosmic Interlude", "Road To Kurti" is a tour-de force of  dusty desert doom grooves that is reminiscent, in some ways, to Kyuss' "Blues For The Red Sun" having that same fuzzed out desert vibe mixed with the doomy heaviness that made that album such a seminal release.
The EP opens its account with an absolute monster in "Drug Queen" which begins with a swirling drone over and around a short  movie soundbite that then morphs into a glorious eastern sounding heavy fuzzed, doomy riff. Vocals then enter the fray courtesy of bassist and vocalist Pete Smith, not stoner growled or raw whiskey soaked as you might expect, from the heavy down tuned mayhem, but surprisingly clean and harmonious. The song ends with a delicious psych workout with all three members going hell for leather up until the final swirling fadeout.
"Mister Bendy Man" is up next with a dark stuttering groove that sees the John Slaymaker (guitar) and Smith riffing in perfect unison against a backdrop of stunning sticksmanship from drummer Jamie Gillett, Slaymaker also peels off a gem of a solo here, superb choices of note and with buckets of tone and emotive feel.
"Your God Is Dead" has a definite Sabbath feel to it, especially in the up tempo mid-section but that all disappears in the final third where CoW show us their jazzier, bluesier side, albeit with a healthy dose of Hawkwind psych/space in its groove. Slaymaker shows again here that he's a lot more than just a riff machine with yet another stunning solo.
"Waiting" closes the EP in style with a killer of a tune, Slaymaker on his own playing a dirty circular riff before Smith's filthy distorted bass and Gillett's furious drums enter and blow the roof off! This track also see Smith getting a little more gnarly vocally, finding a little more grit in his delivery and sounding quite angry, a tone that really suits the song.

Not a lot has been heard from these guys of late and their Facebook page seems to have been shut down so I have no idea if they are still together, there was a rumour that they were working on something new last year but nothing has materialised since. If anyone has any information concerning their current position i'd love to know what they are up to.