ninehertz

Unholy Drum is the sixth album from Cult of Dom Keller, their first for five years. They are respected and loved for their psychedelic forays, but the intervening years have seemingly been used to expand their palette to create this album of kaleidoscopic colours and genres, an art-rock collage.

There are frequent surprises and change-ups between tracks, with consistency to be found only in its up-beat mood and the warmth it generates throughout. There is much joy to be had within. After a familiar start on the first couple of tracks, with agitated movements crashing against dreamy kinetic psych in a very cool manner, Disappear brings the first jolt just as you’re settling in, as silky-smooth electronics suddenly takeover. It raises an eyebrow, but then to my surprised worms its way into my brain most unexpectedly.

The following B(o)ing furthers the eclectic range through a string section lead which sounds orchestral, almost like a Bond film score. Again, the surprise passes into admiration, for the variance and for the song itself. Leaders with Hooves is perhaps more of what might be expected of the band – dropping right into the depths of wall-to-wall mind-altering noise early on, with an unusually thick sound for psych. It brings its own mysteriousness, pulsating at the periphery while the slinky vocals chart a path through. It is wonderfully trippy but also danceable too, a very nice groove consistently there.

I could go on – suffice to say the remainder of the album maintains the quality and curiousness. As Galaxies SOS closes, combining mellow psych with more outlandish guitar moments, you feel completely satisfied and refreshed, an album of bold ambition knitted together perfectly. This is a wonderful album.