We at Desert Psychlist like to think we have played a small part in bringing rock music from the South America's to the attention of a much wider international audience but whether that is actually the case we can never be quite sure however whether this is be the case or not we fully intend to carry on flying the flag for the continent and reviewing albums from those South American bands that we think are worthy of our readers attention and so, without further ado, let us introduce you to Chile's Contrapeso and their new release "Mamba Trip".
"Mamba Trip" opens with "León" a song that features desert rock flavoured circular guitar motifs revolving around fuzzed out chunky riffage, low bouncing bass lines and punchy drumming, it is a sound somewhat reminiscent of that which once filled the night skies of those generator parties held in the Californian desert only with with a little Latin spiciness and vocals sang in Spanish. Next song "232" kicks off with a delicious rolling bass riff that is then joined by the rest of the band in a throbbing stoner/desert groove that frames a bouncy clean vocal melody, it is followed by "Espiral" a delicious mix of stoner metal and acidic psych that along it journey also gets a little funky, the track also features some face melting lead guitar work that goes nicely "out there" without going overboard.. "Salvador" eases things up a little and boasts a slightly more accessible sound both musically and vocally, its not quite what you would call a radio-friendly sound but it is one heading in that direction with its Santana like guitar tones and its mixture of Northern and Southern hemisphere rhythms. For their final song "Romper" Contrapeso add a little bit of menace to their vocals and a touch of proto-doomic gnarliness to their musical attack, the overall groove still sitting in the canon of desert rock but with an added air of dank grittiness, this song also boasts some fine dual guitar trade offs before its last note announces the songs close and that of this release.
Now Contrapeso describe "Mamba Trip" as a "demo", which would suggest that it is a release that contains songs that may one day reappear on another release given some studio polish. We at The Psychlist would suggest they leave things as they are and just change the description of this excellent, and pleasingly ragged, blend of desert rock and heavy psych from that of "demo" to "debut EP". Granted their are a few tweaks that could be made, like dropping the vocals a little deeper in the mix and ramping up the volume on some of the guitar solos, but on the whole "Mambo Trip" is a damn fine listen that is as good if not better than some bands "official" releases.
Check it out ....
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