This absolutely ripping new trio is something of a Dead Sea Apes side project, as guitarist Brett Savage and drummer Chris Hardman teamed up with guitarist/Cardinal Fuzz label head Dave Cambridge for a full-on psych rock meltdown. Obviously, that is extremely familiar territory for everyone involved, but you never know when a fresh constellation of musicians or a particular recording session is destined to create something fresh, incendiary, and absolutely mind-melting and this debut album is one of those times.
In a general sense, it is probably fair to describe Celestial Power’s vision as unusually volcanic Bardo Pond worship, but there are also shades of The Myrrors’ Eastern drone tendencies and early Om’s hypnotically mantric drum-driven grooves. Equally noteworthy is what is not present, as Celestial Power shed Dead Sea Apes’ spacier and more bass-driven aspects, as this new configuration of psych-rock heavy hitters shift their focus entirely to unleashing face-melting guitar supernovas. Some pieces admittedly achieve that state of molten nirvana more convincingly than others, but the opening “Politics of Ecstasy” absolutely tore my head off, so everything else is basically icing on the cake.
The album appropriately begins with a sample from Timothy Leary’s 1966 spoken-word record Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out that announces that “the time has come to go out of your mind.” Leary then asks “are you ready to die and be reborn?” right before my speakers fucking exploded with a molten eruption of snarling wah-wah. As far as I can tell (reality being subjective and all), I did not actually lose my mind or experience complete ego death, yet Celestial Power otherwise do an extremely fucking impressive job of backing up that audacious opening question, as “Politics of Ecstasy” is an absolutely god-tier slab of white-hot psychedelia. The beauty lies in the perfect marriage of roiling drone, increasingly wild drumming, and an absolutely feral maelstrom of guitars that sound like hell has just opened up. I was especially blown away by how much the piece feels like a force of nature rather than a rock band, as there is not much that would qualify as conventional riffing or soloing at all. Instead, there is only a heavy drone, some spontaneous splatters and slashes of lead guitar, and wah-wah pedals wielded with absolutely demonic intensity.
Unsurprisingly, that opener bombshell proves to be an impossible act to follow, so the two lengthier pieces that come next explore more conventional “heavy psych” terrain. For example, “Something Hidden” feels like a bluesier variation of “Politics of Ecstasy” with actual guitar soloing, while “Mandate for Heaven” is centered on dirge-y, slow-motion Sabbath-style riffage. Both certainly have some flashes of greatness (particularly Hardman’s drumming in the former), but Celestial Power burn their brightest when recognizable scales and riffs are completely burned away by a howling maelstrom of wah-wah abuse. That said, the closing “Folk Wisdom” is a killer exception to that trend, as it features an extremely cool central motif of chiming and droning chords with unusual dissonances and harmonies as well as an especially smoldering (if ephemeral) dual guitar solo.
This is the sort of album that I dearly wish I could send back in time to my teenage self to convince him to stop wasting time on lame shit like mastering Slayer riffs or mimicking Kirk Hammett solos, as Celestial Power make one hell of a convincing case that a single droning power chord and a viscerally slicing snarl of well-timed wah-wah can be heavier than a death in the family. Intricate and evil-sounding riffs certainly have their place, of course, but a killer vibe coupled with explosively out-of-control guitar squall will always be much closer to my heart. In short, this is an absolutely monster debut and a likely candidate for the finest psychedelic meltdown of the year, but that achievement almost pales in comparison to the singular greatness of “Politics of Ecstasy,” which feels like it may very well be the crowning achievement of all three artists’ discographies. Instant classic.
