Medusa1975
Rising From The Ashes
(Svart Records)
It’s cool to listen to the early proto-doom bands of the ‘70s; there’s a magic to the sound that is pure, tactile and ascending. A dark sort of comic-book fantasy ensues the ridges of the form; an inner-punk quality highlights the boundless energy. Medusa1975, a group birthed in the spatial ‘70s, still captures the rawness of that decade. The band’s latest—the slightly proggy, circular, Rising From The Ashes—shows a band that still cares, harnessing a mode with character and belief.
There’s cheese thrown in the mix too, but it’s to be expected. The band let’s loose it’s inner Marillion on tracks like “Fall of the Houser of Usher”, but do so with pride, and that makes all the difference. “Turn to Stone”, goes all Genesis and Yes, with its stirring combinations and extensions, eventually settling into the band’s signature Sabbath/Uriah Heep stomp. “Circle of Hell”, is Spinal Tap-ish. Eerie, a little goofy, and certainly signature, it’s a nice trip.
Medusa1975 is aptly named. Being a band focused solely on a particular form, they can bend with it as they see fit. The music takes you back—even if you never really were “back” – and that’s the music’s special charm. It’s a timeless form, slightly exhausted, but never irrelevant. Medusa1975 aren’t going to blow the shit off your mindscape, but they’re not going to waste your time either. There’s some real progressive action here. The fact that they’re still at it after all these years, and the fact that they didn’t officially release their debut, First Step Beyond, until 2013, makes me a fan. You have to be able to believe in yourself to do anything worthwhile, and Medusa1975 believes.
