There are not many bands in this underground rock scene that can celebrate twenty years of existence, let's face it the pressure on today's musicians having to hold down full time jobs, look after families while still trying to find time to practise, rehearse. gig, write tunes and record are immense and have seen many a band fall by the wayside. One band who have managed to navigate their way around the music making vs life balance conundrum are Portugal's Miss Lava, a band who's line up still includes two original members, Johnny Lee (vocals) and K. Raffah (guitars). Miss Lava celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band this year with the release of "Under A Black Sun" (Small Stone Records/Kozmik Artifactz), Lee and Raffah joined by current members Ricardo Ferreira (bass) and P. Gonçalves (drums) on what could possibly be described as the bands most intense and diverse release to date.
"Dark Tomb Nebula" is not a title that exactly screams cheerful so it will come as no surprise that this opening number has an air of moodiness and melancholy about it, having said that this not a song that wallows in despair or depression in fact looking at the songs lyrics it would seem that this is more about being overawed by something that is so much larger than ones self, which in this case seems to refer to the universe. Lee delivers those lyrics in a low restrained croon, which adds extra gravitas to the songs melancholic feel, Lee only really letting loose on the songs chorus. Musically the songs groove sits somewhere between progressive doom and spacious heavy psych, a sort of Elder meets Howling Giant vibe with maybe just a little Hawkwind-esque swirliness thrown in for good measure. Things get a little more upbeat and stoner-ish for next song "Neon Gods" Ferreira and Gonçalves laying down a solid backdrop of bass and drum groove for guitarist Raffah to decorate with a mix of crunching and shimmering colours and textures while Lee lyrically ponders on the vagaries of the human mind with a vocal that melodically tiptoes into areas once inhabited by the UK's Stone Roses. The two songs we've covered in this review up to this point are dynamically very different yet you can still tell you are listening to the same band and that is the story throughout this album with songs like "Chaos Strain", "Woe Warrior", "Fear In Overdrive", "I Drown" and title track "Under A Black Sun" all coming from different places sonically and dynamically yet all in possession of a sound that remains unmistakably Miss Lava's, which in a world where so many bands sound alike is an impressive feat.
It has been almost a full four years since Miss Lava presented us with the exceptionally brilliant "Doom Machine" and in that time a lot has happened to the band both personally and musically, whether those changes have had a direct effect on the musical approach taken on new album "Under A Black Sun" is something you would have to ask the band themselves about but there does seem to be textures and colours to be found here that were not so much lacking on "Doom Machine" as not fully explored, textures and colours we hope the band will experiment further with on future releases, let's just hope we don't have to wait another four years this time.
Check 'em out ...
© 2025 Frazer Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment