When aliens landed on Planet Earth in 2001 they chose Gothenburg, Sweden as their base. Their purpose was to play rock music as they were unable to “create sounds in the cold void of outer space and Earth seemed like a good place to go.” As a result the First Band From Outer Space was born.
They quickly got a handle on where this planet was going wrong and last year released an album, the title of which should give us mere earthlings a hint. So fear not clueless world leaders The Guitar Is Mightier Than The Gun is now available on CD.
It would seem that space rock must have been created for the Ipod. Hawkwind proved themselves decades ahead of their time by producing music in an era when such gizmos only existed on Captain Kirk’s Christmas list. More recently other exponents, such as, Oresund Space Collective have continued to boldly go etc.
So with theramin at the ready it is The First Band From Outer Space’s chance to show the universe what they can do with their third studio offering. The Guitar Is Mightier Than The Gun is everything you would want from a space-jam album. Perhaps slightly more Prog than their previous releases, it is divided into four lengthy tracks that swirl through your mind creating hypnotic images aplenty.
“Demons & Haze” is a near ten minute theramin and Hawkwind flavoured trip through space, opening an album that also has sounds inspired from places around their new found world. Brief and subtle hints of their travels through India, Africa, and South America sometimes appear through the glorious haze.
The band venture off into the freedom of improvisation underlining in technicolour the level of musicianship and instinctive understanding that they possess.
Article comments
1 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Nice Review...
Sounds pretty cool. It would've been interesting to hear them fuse that with another style but that's just my penchant for all things Fusion and/or Prog.
You should check out:
An Endless Sporadic - s/t
Exivious - s/t
Helmet of Gnats
Heart of Cygnus
2 - Charlie Doherty
Nice find, Jeff! Just checked out "Smokin'" on Myspace and dug that tune a lot, especially as it progressed.
Sweden is still a haven for great rock talent (think Opeth, Jens Lekman, The Hives, Refused, etc.). Add this group to that ever-growing list.