Monster Magnet – Powertrip
I believe that I first learned about MM in their Spine of God era due to my pals, the Embryonics, being highly influenced by the group. Since the Embrys were so freakin’ good, I figured that MM had to be alright!
At the time leader Dave Wyndorf was a high priest of psychedelic drugs and even claims to have dosed an audience with LSD during at least one concert and explained that he wanted to make his viewers experience the equivalent of a bad trip! Even the recordings at the time were nearly out of control with a stoned mania that no other band was creating. Truly great, on-the-edge r’n’r!
This record came out years later and they had cleaned up considerably by this point. This is much more mainstream hard rock, but still wacky enough and drug-addled enough and with tons of loud guitars so that it still appeals to me!
Opening with “Crop Circles”, the guitars wail with tons of leads, heavy chords and some craziness about believing in crop circles. Then comes the star of the record – the chord-riffing classic, “Powertrip” with the incredibly memorable chorus of “I’m never gonna work another day in my life”! What teen – or damn near anyone of any age – couldn’t relate to that?! Cool dynamics, nice screams, wild lead guitar by Ed Mundel and plenty of head-banging power!
“Space Lord” has a hip, acoustic groove that sucks ya in as Dave sings some bizarre, space-age plantation lyrics and talks of being a “space lord motherfucker”. Bassist Joe Calandra rips a bass lick from the Shocking Blue (“Love Buzz”) for “Temple of Your Dreams” - a rockin’ tune in which Wyndorf intones “I’ve wasted enough of my time on the edge of forever and I’ve paid all the goddam dues that I’m gonna pay” and makes it freakin’ catchy! They understand the potency of repetition and the groove without resorting to monotony.
If your head isn’t banging while listening to “Bummer” then you must be deaf – it is damn infectious while railing against whiners of all sorts. I’ve often wondered what MM fans who are not comic book readers think about Dave lyrics – sure, they’re drugged out craziness at times, but there are so many comic references – EC, Marvel, etc – such as “Baby Gotterdamerung” and the call out to Captain America villain Modock – that non-comic-readers must just scratch their heads are chalk it up to stoner-speak.
“3rd Eye Landslide” rocks out trippy-ly with great lines like “cashing Satan’s check with my dick in my hand” and “the United States of who gives a shit”! There’s some 60’s psychedelic keyboard work on “See You in Hell” with groovy guitar lines intertwining around the melodies telling the tale of a zombie baby coming back to haunt the parents while, for no apparent reason, Dave rails that “your punk rock band still sucks anyway”!
A reprise from the first record, “Tractor”, has a cool building intensity and while it is a little slicker than the original, still has plenty of bad-trip mentality attached to it and is pretty damn ferocious! “Atomic Clock” seems to slow down time as you bang your head through molasses and Dave’s vocals go through the surreal pre-verb affects.
“Goliath and the Vampires” is a 4 minute, sound-effect laden ride showing just how closely related sex and horror is (and may cause your friends to beg you to turn it off) before resolving in the downright mellow – and even pretty – 60’s-sounding “Your Lies Become You”.
MM has gone through many changes in sound and personnel but Dave definitely knows how to write a song! This is more hard rock than the earlier punk/grunge/noise of Spine of God, but for those who don’t mind a little production this will blast your mind into another dimension!
At the time leader Dave Wyndorf was a high priest of psychedelic drugs and even claims to have dosed an audience with LSD during at least one concert and explained that he wanted to make his viewers experience the equivalent of a bad trip! Even the recordings at the time were nearly out of control with a stoned mania that no other band was creating. Truly great, on-the-edge r’n’r!
This record came out years later and they had cleaned up considerably by this point. This is much more mainstream hard rock, but still wacky enough and drug-addled enough and with tons of loud guitars so that it still appeals to me!
Opening with “Crop Circles”, the guitars wail with tons of leads, heavy chords and some craziness about believing in crop circles. Then comes the star of the record – the chord-riffing classic, “Powertrip” with the incredibly memorable chorus of “I’m never gonna work another day in my life”! What teen – or damn near anyone of any age – couldn’t relate to that?! Cool dynamics, nice screams, wild lead guitar by Ed Mundel and plenty of head-banging power!
“Space Lord” has a hip, acoustic groove that sucks ya in as Dave sings some bizarre, space-age plantation lyrics and talks of being a “space lord motherfucker”. Bassist Joe Calandra rips a bass lick from the Shocking Blue (“Love Buzz”) for “Temple of Your Dreams” - a rockin’ tune in which Wyndorf intones “I’ve wasted enough of my time on the edge of forever and I’ve paid all the goddam dues that I’m gonna pay” and makes it freakin’ catchy! They understand the potency of repetition and the groove without resorting to monotony.
If your head isn’t banging while listening to “Bummer” then you must be deaf – it is damn infectious while railing against whiners of all sorts. I’ve often wondered what MM fans who are not comic book readers think about Dave lyrics – sure, they’re drugged out craziness at times, but there are so many comic references – EC, Marvel, etc – such as “Baby Gotterdamerung” and the call out to Captain America villain Modock – that non-comic-readers must just scratch their heads are chalk it up to stoner-speak.
“3rd Eye Landslide” rocks out trippy-ly with great lines like “cashing Satan’s check with my dick in my hand” and “the United States of who gives a shit”! There’s some 60’s psychedelic keyboard work on “See You in Hell” with groovy guitar lines intertwining around the melodies telling the tale of a zombie baby coming back to haunt the parents while, for no apparent reason, Dave rails that “your punk rock band still sucks anyway”!
A reprise from the first record, “Tractor”, has a cool building intensity and while it is a little slicker than the original, still has plenty of bad-trip mentality attached to it and is pretty damn ferocious! “Atomic Clock” seems to slow down time as you bang your head through molasses and Dave’s vocals go through the surreal pre-verb affects.
“Goliath and the Vampires” is a 4 minute, sound-effect laden ride showing just how closely related sex and horror is (and may cause your friends to beg you to turn it off) before resolving in the downright mellow – and even pretty – 60’s-sounding “Your Lies Become You”.
MM has gone through many changes in sound and personnel but Dave definitely knows how to write a song! This is more hard rock than the earlier punk/grunge/noise of Spine of God, but for those who don’t mind a little production this will blast your mind into another dimension!
posted by rich @ 3:02 PM
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