Earthling Society "Zodiak"

Country: UK
Sub Genre: Psychedelic
Label: Nasoni Records (vinyl), Zero Records (CD)
Release date: December 4, 2012 (vinyl), June 24, 2013 (CD)
Tracklist: 
Vinyl version:
1. Zodiak
- a. The Silver And The Black
- b. The Million Headed Cobra Of Eternity
2. Silver Phase
3. The Astral Traveller

CD version:
1. The City Of Resurrections (2:07)
2. I Don't Know Myself (6:05)
3. Zodiak [full version] (29:01)
4. Desolation (4:39)
5. The Astral Traveller (21:26)
6. The Elevator Does Not Stop At This Floor (8:35)

Line-up: 
Fred Laird: guitar, vocals, bouzouki, Moog, Mellotron and syntar
Jon Blacow: drums, handsonic
Kim Allen: bass
   With:
Neil Whitehead: monotribe, syndrum and Korg microsynth (2,4,6)
Lew Dickinson: saxophone (2,4,6)

Description/Reviews: 

The title track starts off with a lead bass melody, totally trippy exploratory 60s San Francisco era psych guitar, and flittering, syncopated alien electronics. Around the 5 minute mark it shifts gears, with the drums being far more up front and the guitars retaining the 60s sound but veering into a combination of Grateful Dead and Indian stylings. But this is a mere transitional bit as the band soon launch into a rollicking space rock jam that reminds me of the first Tribe of Cro album. Yet nothing stays still for long on this monster, which includes some of the most powerhouse and intense space-psych rock I’ve heard from Earthling Society yet, as well as peacefully trippy 60s styled psychedelic jams. There’s lots of great rocking grooves and it all feels fantastic, but pay attention to the lyrics and you’ll realize how disturbing the subject matter is. It starts with “I need a witness. To document my sickness”, and ends with “Jesus can’t save me. A shadow baits me. I hate all human kind”. I suspect this is about the Zodiak killer who terrified northern California in the 60s-70s.
The Astral Traveller also covers a lot of musical ground. We’ve got steady grooving space-psych jams with trippy guitar leads and cosmic keys, and some deep space segments that focus on soundscape and effects creation like early Pink Floyd and, as Jeff pointed out in his review of the LP, Nektar’s Journey To The Centre Of The Eye. And we’ve got more killer powerhouse space ROCKING. Like the title track it all feels great but has lyrics that are more akin to doom metal than the music I’m hearing, like “Oh my darkly sweet, sweet Satan. I kiss your hoof”. Wow, serious stuff, but then I see the promo sheet description of ZodiaK‘s theme of “six portraits of alienation, serial killing, occultism and urban decay.” The contrast between the music and the subject matter is disorienting and kudos to Earthling Society for pushing my buttons in this way.

Read the full review by at aural-innovations.com

Media/Samples 
Zodiak

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