Jesters of Destiny
The Sorrows That Refuse To Drown
(Ektro Records)
Thirty years after their last recording—1987’s EP, In A Nostalgic Mood—L.A.-based psych rockers, Jesters of Destiny, are back with the circular and ever widening, The Sorrows That Refuse to Drown. The band is as contemporary and bustling as ever, mingling perpetual open taste, humor, proto-heavy metal and distinguished psychedelic groove. This is a group that is fearless and smooth in its freedom of distribution. Meaning, you’re going to get a real sound—nothing hijacked, compromised or normal.
There’s a sort of Butthole Surfer’s shtick to the amalgamation of forms the band presents—an element of looseness and autonomy. From free-noise (“Ladies of Runyon Canyon”), to righteous Spinal Tap psych-pop (“The Flesh Parade”), to Rolling Stones meet Frank Zappa by way of Ornette Coleman absolution (“Chalk Outline”), the Jesters know how to draw pureness and extend a vision. There’s also a sort of post-hippie, pre-punk disquisition that the band performs. They seem interested in dissecting the birth of openness, and use this as a means to explore technical structures.
“Another Fire Six Feet Deep” is all doom and irony, loose and playful, while ‘Peace, Blood and Charlie Cocaine”, is ‘70s metal ascension, ala Hawkwind. The band’s highest moment may be “The Misunderstood”. This song takes on a lot of metaphorical and psychological connotations. It has a Monster Magnet vibe to it, both in its personal introspection and musical definition, and sort of carries the band’s fullness to its natural extension.
When Jesters of Destiny released their first two recordings on Dimension Records—which was an offshoot of Metal Blade Records—in the mid to late eighties, there was probably a lot of confused “metal heads”. Here was clearly a band whose mind was larger than any sort of genre or “wave”. Cuing elements from a diverse and wide pallet, the Jesters were ahead of their time (and still are), and probably would have made a much more defiant splash if exposed in a different social and musical climate. Regardless, we’re all lucky the group reformed and brought, The Sorrows That Refuse to Drown, to our space this year. It’s well worth the wait. An album varied, epic, honest and timeless.
