MARY AND THE BOY
S/T
(Low Impedance)

QUEEN ELEPHANTINE
Surya
(Self-Released)

KEN MODE
Reprisal
(Escape Artist)

SHELLSHAG
Destroy Me I'm Yours
(Starcleaner)

THINE EYES BLEED
S/T
(The End)

GREY DATURAS
Return to Disruption 

(Neurot)

GOD'S REVOLVER
Little Black Horse Where Are

You Going With Your Dead 
River

(Exigent)

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This is a great record. And in the methodical, stellar, emotional and astral plane, Surya is to me as good as Om’s latest Pilgrimage. It is also rougher, less detailed, choppier, looser, more rustic, more excessive, fatter, and longer. Surya drones spliff in hand and entrances in a deeper and more monotonous fashion, but with that approach it also holds you tighter to its bass-centric core. For the whole duration of Surya, this New York quartet (that’s where they reside but Queen Elephantine came together in Hong Kong) seems to channel the post Sleep mantra of Al Cisneros and the guitar tonalities of a pubescent Josh Homme. Of the first one they have taken (some might say stolen, but this is good so fuck it) the sense of jamming, the free flowing vibe that carries good stoner doom outside of rock parameters, and from the latter they have taken the exact tuning (especially during the solos) that made of Kyuss’ such legends. Queen Elephantine have studied the stuff, and as premeditated as Surya may be, the 5 songs that comprise it are a plain lesson on how to bend two or three notes into innumerable shapes.

Surya is massive in all fronts; recorded in the land of Jackie Chan it serves to its advantage that its lo fi qualities add a timeless warm tone to the whole recording. Wise move, as that sound adds to the band’s fat ass bottom. And it needs the weight as the songs extend over ten, and in the case of “Bison” , the thirty minutes. These tunes are at times insisting and moving at others groovy and always psychedelic.

If they stay together, Queen Elephantine might have a great future. Not sure how old these guys are, but pictures on their MySpace present a teenage looking quartet.   And a generous one at that; while they are recording their new album (Kailash) Queen Elephantine is offering a two-song EP for free download at their MySpace page. Yeah, it’s two songs and together they total over forty minutes so no whining allowed.

Official Site

MySpace