Friday 2 April 2021

PEIXES VOADORES ~ ALTERED STATES ...... review

 

It seems like an age since we featured a Brazilian band on these pages so lets put that right by introducing you to Peixes Voadores a combo from Rio Grande do Sul with a nice line in raucous catchy riffs and boisterous head-banging rhythms who have just released their debut album "Altered States".


 Describing a song as "catchy" will often send the underground purists running to their bunkers desperate to cleanse themselves with something harsh and extreme but would those dank grooves even exist if it were not for the Sabbath's, Zeppelin's and Purples of this world whose grooves were built on the constructs of hooks and melodies. Mentioning Deep Purple in that trio of examples is no accident on our behalf as Peixes Voadores share many similarities with all of Purple's various lineups as on songs like "High On The Road", "Flying High", "Stranger Within" and "Virtual Minds" the band, much like Purple did (and still do), keep things fairly simple but effective behind the vocals, which are strong clean and powerful, but then take off into the stratosphere between them, the only thing missing being some parping John Lord style keyboard flourishes. Of course this is not the 70's or the 80's so Peixes Voadores bring their grooves up to date by adding an undercurrent of doominess to proceedings, nothing too dark or dank but just enough to take their tunes out of the realms of sounding overly bright and polished and giving them a pleasing underground edginess.


Although Peixes Voadores describe what they do as "stoner rock" we at Desert Psychlist find the bands sonic attack leaning a little more towards an 80's hard rock/metal sound, a sound that relies on ear catching melodies and cleverly placed instrumental hooks with which to ensnare its audience. As mentioned previously there will be those reading this that will immediately balk at the mention of  words like ear-catching and melody, people who may be concerned that hearing something melodic might expose them to something that might be deemed commercial or mainstream, fear not though because there is enough gnarliness and gritiness on "Altered States" to fill a small canyon.
Check it out ..... 

© 2021 Frazer Jones

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