Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of The Knight would be a bloody Godsend if I was getting paid by the word. I’m not, however, so from now on I’m just calling them Trippy Wicked. They inhabit a strange space between stoner rock and doom, sharing a bunk with the likes of Electric Wizard, Sourvein and Orange Goblin.
It’s a pissstained, filthy bunk, filled with hot rock burns, hiding a ninebar under the mattress.
So, stoney doom. Downtuned guitars, thundering drums and riffs that move mountains. Trippy Wicked deliver on the expectations. The vocals are strained and nasty, but show some real talent, and and tracks that bring the rock, rather then the doom, like ‘Sea Shanty’ the aggression is let out and it all clicks together.
Uniquely for a stoner/doom band, Trippy Wicked have a horn section. Sparingly used, (possibly because usually members of stoner bands have traded off lung capacity for quality time spent with a bong) it works amazingly well, and adds a little jazz bar cool to the proceedings.
The one stumbling block on this album is that it is neither dopesick, dirty and tripped out, or partying out rock and roll. It sits a little too much in between. Trippy Wicked seem a little too together, and dare I say it, talented to bring the gnarly hangover dirges Electric Wizard excel at. The album shines when the music moves away from the doom and towards proper balls out rock. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen enough. This is in no way a big criticism, just my observation.
All together, this is a damn fine, and very professional demo, and a great addition the British stoner / doom scene. Light up and enjoy.
