Monster Magnet - Last Patrol
reviewed by Grownman
The psychedelic hellraisers of
rock have returned and it sounds like all that drug fueled partying to
excess has taken a toll on their psyche. Monster Magnet has always been a
band I've wanted to get into but never had time to indulge in. I love
hits like "SPACE LORD" which hearken to a seventies rock and psychedelic
sound spliced with a modern edge. After hearing lead vocalist Dave Wyndorf discuss his career on the podcast Tell'em Steve Dave, I decided
that I would check out the band's next release.
I picked up their latest "LAST PATROL", the special edition with the extra tracks "Strobe Light Beatdown" and One Dead Moon". As an admitted newbie to anything Monster Magnet has played that wasn't on the radio, soundtrack or wrestling intro, I'm kinda surprised with this. This is much slower and darker than I expected. There are a few rockers on this but for the most part this is a down tempo album with some great somber lyrics.
"I Live Behind the Clouds" opens with
"I've got a feeling, that no one cares, bout all that confetti I threw in the air".This pretty much sums up the feel of the entire album. If all the albums before this were the soundtrack of some post apocalyptic rager this is the album you listen to as you come down and wait out a massive hangover. "Last Patrol", "Mindless Ones", "End of Time" and the bonus track "Strobe Light Beatdown" are the real rock tunes. The rest of the songs are much slower and I honestly don't mind it since I find myself focusing more on the great lyrics Dave writes. "Paradise" is quite possibly the best track on the entire standard cd. A slow burning and soulful tune that views the idea of Paradise from a whole different perspective. "Three Kingfishers" is the most psychedelic of the bunch. A slow start dissolving like acid into a trippy stoner jam. "Hallelujah" has an early ZZ Top/Skynyrd feel. A song that gives a nod to Skynyrd's "They Call me the Breeze" with the lyrics "they call me the Creep". "Stay Tuned" closes out the standard version of the cd and comes off as pretty slow and straight forward cautionary bookend to an album full of "don't follow in our footsteps" type of songs.
The
bonus closer "One Dead Moon" is my personal favorite. A bluesy-ghost
town-love gone wrong-song with a Ennio Morricone backdrop.
If you're gonna pick this up, I definitely recommend the special edition. The bonus tracks are excellent and you are really missing out on the whole experience without those tracks. As a previously passive listener of the Monster Magnet sound my interest has been peaked.
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