Grails - "Deep Politics" album

Portland, Oregon's Grails are a veteran instrumental outfit who specialize in spacious, moody psychedelic rock. "Deep Politics" is their sixth full-lengther, and it opens with "Future Primitive"-- a moody and textural guitar-scape that brings to mind a dusky Western expanse. It's all very dramatic and cinematic, to be certain. The title track is piano-led chamber pop meets post-rock, full of mystery and tension. "Almost Grew My Hair" is a trippy and evolving psychedelic space monster, dynamically moving from David Gilmour-style rock solos to darker opium den haziness. This is some potent stuff, with the perfect balance of clarity and foggy abandon.

Taken as a whole, "Deep Politics" takes the listener on a journey through foreign lands, natural landscapes, and mind-bending narcotic excursions, all safely and within a relatively concise 47 minutes. Superb work, and all worth exploring. (Temporary Residence Limited)

Grailspace

Grails site

Grails - "Doomsayer's Holiday" CD

Portland heavy-doom instrumental rock unit Grails take influence from such wildly unusual sources as hash-soaked psychedelia, post-Black Sabbath metal, Eastern instrumentation, and out-jazz. On 'Doomsayer's Holiday', this coalesces into a blazing landscape of exotic jams (the Indian/Irish-accented sludge metal of 'Reincarnation Blues'), weird, alien textures, and stoned-out bliss, all with a richly cinematic flair. It's as if Grails are scoring an epic film by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The sweeping, chiming sadness of 'The Natural Man' is only a precursor to the Sun Ra-like space-jazz-noise of 'Immediate Mate'. 'X-Contaminators' would serve well as a soundtrack to a Dario Argento horror film, and the Pink Floyd-ian 'Acid Rain' closes it all out. A major release that will appeal to both metal heads and avante-leaning space travelers alike. (Temporary Residence)

Grails website