Motorowl - 'Atlas' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Infinite Logbook

2. The Man Who Rules The World

3. Atlas

4. To Give

5. To Take

6. Cargo

7. Norma Jean

Motorowl are a "Psychedelic Doom Rock Power Quintet" which is a lot to try and decipher, their sound is Hard Rock but with a very interesting predominantly sixties organ and early 70's synth sound from the keys player. The vocals are not the full-on screamo type, much to the relief of these tired ears and this naturally lends the lyrics more clarity. I found the album to be a very pleasant listening experience.

Musically this band belong to no real single genre, sonically they cross different eras with very modern production on the drums guitars and bass but very classic keyboard sounds whose roots are perhaps in the late 60's and early 70's, this sonic dichotomy is not in any way jarring to listen to, quite the opposite it is an effective combination and gives the album a unique sound.

The album has no track clocking in at less than five minutes (Prog fans do love a long song right?), and while there is no underlying theme linking all the songs on the album together the tracks "To Give" and "To Take" are intentional partners giving the album a big proggy centerpiece in these songs for those who need a fix of Prog. The two actually feature as the end of side one and beginning of side two on the vinyl release.

The whole album was effectively written while the band toured it's predecessor 'Om Generator' and with it's birth in the live environment the band have captured the songs here playing together in the studio, doubtless this was done to keep the feel more organic on the album, it has worked excellently in this respect.

This album is definitely something very interesting musically and Motorowl are certainly a band I will be looking out for in future.