Headless Kross
Projections I
(At War With False Noise)
I’ve always struggled with doom and psych, in large part because they are styles that tend to be at their best when seen in the live setting or at home while stoned. Growing up in the Midwest during the era of pop-punk and metalcore and not really being into illicit drugs (I was such a cool kid, you guys…), the otherworldly feel of stoner music never appealed to me. Plus (hot take incoming), Pink Floyd is overrated. But enough about me and how lame I was (am and continue to be…); it’s just a segue into the fact that it takes a lot for a promo with the words “stoner”, “doom”, and “psych” to actually catch my attention. That said, holy shit, Headless Kross, you have mine.
So what differentiates Headless Kross from band like Cough? There’s actually a lot going on (relatively speaking) in each of these four tunes, and the band give each song a unique identity. The opener is a real psychedelic beauty, with its mix of crushing stoner doom, leading into a more Conan-esque straight-up banger in “Practical Mental Effects”. “Church of the Fifth Season” takes its time, but by picking up the pace into more sludge territory, the riffs just keep coming. To answer my earlier question, Headless Kross are straight up nasty. Sure, the default pace is a hare faster than a tortoise (pun intended), but these Scots know how to pack a lot into a powerful frame.
The default complaints about stoner/doom/psych/sludge are all applicable here, but the ways in which Headless Kross move within the established framework to craft something so delightfully filthy is really admirable. The fact that this is the start of a planned trilogy of albums? Bring on more noise, boys.
