Funnily enough, I'd just been rummaging back through the embarrassingly large collection of vinyl that lurks in the basement at Bluesbunny Towers and had been listening to a mixture of the Chocolate Watch Band and Cream when Philadelphia based band Stellarscope's "This Is Who We Are" magically landed on my desk.
There's no doubt to these ears that the songs are influenced by both rock behemoths and out of your head experiences but there is more to this band than that. For one thing, Stellarscope avoid the self indulgence that you might expect. They never take their songs for granted using the rhythmic power and control of Bob Forman's drum kit to keep things in order while different sonic avenues are explored. "Sell Your Soul" is something of an incursion into metal territory but taken more as a stylistic experiment than an opportunity to churn out those well loved clichés. Even the prog-rock flavours of "En Ol Principio" are tempered with discipline and a fixation on bringing the song to a conclusion after its detours. That's the thing about this album - it never quite does what you expect it too and just when you think you know what is coming next something different happens but you never feel like it has lost its way. Just for that alone, comparisons with The Mars Volta are wholly justified.
Regardless of genre - and let's be honest, psychedelic charged rock isn't really my bag - good musicianship and imagination always triumph and, though sometimes a little too studious, Stellarscope have produced an album that holds your attention from start to finish. Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the streets again. Or something like that…