DAYTRIPPER ~ BOOK I: THE TRIP ...... review

Phoenix, Arizona's Daytripper may share their name with a Beatles song but that is where any similarities end, don't go expecting jangly guitar tones and tight vocal harmonies from these guys as their music resides on the darker side of the tracks, in fact the only thing jangling here are the nerves of those listening to the bands hellish doomic tomes. If you think that last statement may be us at Desert Psychlist slightly gilding the lily then press play on the bands debut "Book I: The Trip" but before you do make sure you have a light on and bottle of Valium to hand.

 

Dark droning and distorted guitar textures introduce opening song "Jarl's Eyes", a hellish cacophony of noise that is then joined by a second guitar, bass and drums in a heavy doomic groove decorated in a mix of hazy and harsh vocal tones, a groove that is routinely interrupted by moments of lysergic languidity and delicious thrumming low slow bleakness. If you have not succumbed to the call of the Valium yet then "Marijuanakon" might be the song to push you over the edge, its Sleep like refrains support a chorus of wordless wailing and harsh guttural growls that vocalise Dune/Dopesmoker flavoured lyrical content, the addition of  screeching violin adding an off centred satanic feel to the proceedings. "Primitives" follows and in its initial stages boasts a slightly more desert flavoured groove however after a brief episode of dark space like ambience things take a blackened turn and we are taken to the close on wave upon wave of droning dankness. Next track "Staff of the Bog" sees Daytripper's musical sages employing the vocals of Ashley Ann Thompson to add vocal contrast to a song that is part hazy desert rock part blackened heavy psych while "Sludgelurker" sees the band blending Sabbathesque proto-doom with swampy sludge then finishing in crescendo of dank off kilter noise that bears no resemblance to either. Penultimate track "Tin Man" is Daytripper at their most accessible, the songs vocals, a trade off of clean and harsh tones, are supported by a groove notable for its dialled down heaviness, granted its not exactly radio friendly but this is probably the closest these guys will ever get. Final number "The Trip" is a sublime epic hotch-potch of ethereal occult rock, psychedelic doom and swampy sludge delivered low slow and atmospheric, well that is until a brief injection of Sabbathian chug'n'roll heralds in a lurch to the finish line on a delightfully dark wave of unholy dissonance.

Stoner doom, blackened desert rock, psychedelic sludge are all labels you could use to describe Daytripper's "Book I: The Trip" and all would apply but there is also a undefinable element to the songs that inhabit this debut that defies description, an essence of malevolence mixed with mysticism that gives the grooves Daytripper bring to the table an almost spiritual feel, yes an insidious and unnerving form of spirituality but a spirituality nonetheless.

Check it out ....

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