ZOAHR ~ MOSAIC ... review

The beautiful thing about this thing we call the "underground rock scene" is that it these days it is so international, before the internet our music collections would, with a few exceptions, be dominated by albums by British and North American bands and artists. The coming of "the web" has changed all that and the collections of those of us worshipping at the altar of the riff are as likely to contain albums from Santiago, Chile as they are Portland, USA. It is also somewhat weird that countries across the world seem to each have their moments in the spotlight, a while ago it was Sweden that was churning out one great band after another then all of a sudden their was a surge of great music from Poland which was then followed by an explosion of creativity from Greece. As we write it is recommendations for music from the German underground that is filling Desert Psychlist's inbox and the one that has grabbed our attention the most is "Mosaic" the third album from Pirmasens based outfit ZOAHR, Thorsten (bass); Philipp (drums) and Jessie (guitar/vocals), a trio with a penchant for playing their blues heavy and their psych heavier.

Things kick off really nicely with "Endurance Race" and let us tell you right from the off that this song is not an endurance it is an utter pleasure, its Chris Squire (YES) like bass motifs, punchy insistent drumming and soaring psychedelic guitar textures, accompanied by clean airy vocals, combine to create a noise so uplifting it could be sold as a tonic for depression. ZOAHR get down furious and funky for next song "Zephyr", an up-tempo romp built upon a bedrock of truly impressive drumming and that also boasts both seriously good guitar work and a great Spirit/Randy California-like vocal melody. Things take an easy on the ear turn with the slowly evolving and bluesy lament "Garden of Grief" the songs use of ascending/descending guitar motifs aligned to wearied lead and lilting harmonies proving especially effective. For "Prism" ZOAHR blend accessible classic rock melodies and grooves with touches of stoner like fuzziness while for "Cornered" and the following "Erosive" the band retain that radio friendly element but this time swap out the stoner fuzziness for some distorted heavy blues swagger. There is an old school heavy metal feel to parts of  both "Idiots and Statues" and its follow up "Red Tide" but its old school metal given a funky, heavy psych makeover. Final track "Wayward Blues" delivers exactly what its title promises it will, this a blues lament/torch song drenched in psychedelic textures and colours and like all that has gone before it boasts powerful performances from all involved.

"Accessible" seems to be a dirty word in underground rock circles but accessible in musical terms only really means music that will appeal to a broad spectrum of listeners and ZOAHR's "Mosaic" does just that, the fact that it does so without compromising on things like heaviness, groove and musicality is something that should be applauded. There are only two types of music.. good music and bad music and this album is the good stuff!

Check it out ... 

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