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LP COLOUR HAZE To The Highest Gods We Know ORANGE VINYL/LTD. EDITION - EH 010
Sold Date:
July 30, 2015
Start Date:
February 25, 2015
Final Price:
€25.99
(EUR)
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LP COLOUR HAZE
To The Highest Gods We Know
Limited Edition of 1000 Handumbered Copies In Orange Vinyl With White Speckles And Embossed, Gatefold Sleeve
Country Of Release: Germany 2015
Label: Elektrohasch
Catalogue Number: EH 010
Barcode: -
Klappcover/Gatefold Sleeve: Ja/Yes (Prägecover/Embossed Sleeve)
Condition Records: MINT (Ungespielt / Unplayed)
Condition Cover: MINT
Tracks Side 1:
1. Circles (8:13)
2. Paradise (3:33)
3. Überall (8:22)
Tracks Side 2:
1. Call (8:08)
2. To The Highest Gods We Know (10:48)
Listen At
YouTube
COLOUR HAZE reiten voll auf der 70er-Jahre-Retro-Welle. Damit meine ich jedoch nicht Sachen wie DEEP PURPLE, LYNYRD SKYNYRD oder CCR. Vielmehr die experimentellen Geschichten, die zu Recht nie der Öffentlichkeit im großen Ausmaß dargeboten wurden. Wer die Musik der mir vorliegenden CD hört, hat den Eindruck, dass man zurück in der Zeit der freien Liebe, gutem Gras und schlechten TV-Sendungen angekommen ist. Wahrscheinlich hat die Band auch genug Gras intus, um solche Musik unbeschadet spielen zu können. „Aquamaria“ kann man sich noch einigermaßen gut anhören, doch schon auf „Fire“ wird einem klar, dass die Hippies nicht mehr alle Tassen im Schrank hatten. Der kaum vorhandene Gesang, beschränkt sich auf ein Gitarre begleitendes Summen und ein hin und wieder auftretendes „Fire“. Grauenhaft. Auch „Mind“ ist nicht unbedingt besser. Zwar ist hier die Gitarrenarbeit wieder etwas ordentlicher, aber vom Gesang her limitiert sich die Band erneut total. Übelst. „Tempel“ ist keinen Deut besser. Zwar können hier und da Vergleiche zu THE DOORS gezogen werden, jedoch fehlt dem Song der Charakter dazu. Nein! Der Sänger lässt uns bei „Gold & Silver“ doch noch an seinem Schmerz teilhaben. Und ich dachte schon, er wäre seiner Wasserpfeife ganz verfallen. „Gold & Silver“ ist, wenn man es so nennen kann, ein Anspieltipp des Albums. Die Hammondorgel wurde passend eingesetzt, die Produktion stimmt auch. Der Song kommt ziemlich authentisch daher. Nicht so schlecht. „Earth“ erinnert hier und da an Jimi Hendrix´s „Voodoo Child“. Teilweise wurden die Riffs auch geklaut. Jedoch rockt die Band dieses Stück recht gut runter und auch der Gesang ist kraftvoll. Dass es sich um eine Band aus Deutschland handelt, kann man den einzelnen Songs auch nicht anhören. Dem gehört schon Respekt gezollt. „Ozean“ klingt auch wie ein Ozean. Zumindest hört sich ein Ozean im Dröhnungszustand wohl so an?! Sollte ich mal einen Trip nach Indien buchen, ist diese Scheibe auf jeden Fall dabei. Wird aber wohl nie passieren! Erinnerungen an verschiedene Serien und Filme der späten 60er, frühen 70er werden bei „Stratofarm“ wach, da solche Musik immer im Hintergrund lief. Oder schaut euch noch mal „Full Metal Jacket“ bzw. Apocalypse Now“ an. Hier wird solche Musik auch ab und an verbraten.
Ich kann dieses Werk euch nur dann empfehlen, wenn ihr total auf Experimente steht, ne Tüte Gras rauchen möchtet, oder einfach mal wissen wollt, wie sich Musik anhört, die bei einem schlechten Trip gemacht wurde. Vielleicht verstehe ich die Musik auch einfach nicht. Aber tut euch selbst den Gefallen und lasst die Finger davon...und vom Gras auch! (metal.de)
Similar to the first signs of spring, “To The Highest Gods We Know,” Colour Haze’s first album since 2012, materialized out of nowhere without warning or expectation. With a sleepy sense of laziness, the album unfolds and plays out beautifully like a black bear waking up from hibernation. It starts out slow, radiating like the first sunbeams of the morning, bringing familiar warmth with them as a new season begins. Throughout its running time, the album breathes and lives with a slow cooking energy that is both strong and nimble. With “To The Highest Gods We Know,” the band has once again served up a platter of ethereal beauty wrapped in gorgeous, lush tones taken straight from Mother Nature’s soundtrack.
The album opens with two songs that stand across from each other like night and day. “Circles,” the first song of praise, is heavy and builds slowly; inch by inch, barely breaking free in it’s mid-section before returning to the slow trudge that began the song. Potentially, this structure leaves the listener with the feeling that the song doesn’t actually go anywhere but due to its meditative nature, it doesn’t need to. As its counterpart, “Paradise” breaks the meditation with its upbeat tempo and traditional structure of verses feeding themselves to choruses as the band drives the song down to the beach. In both songs, Koglek stands in front of the mix as a lead singer, seemingly more comfortable than ever to do so, using his raspy, German accent to gently call praise to the highest gods he knows.
For those in the know, when word made it down the line that a new Colour Haze album was to appear, “Uberall” was released in the form of a video taken from the band’s most recent performance at DunaJam. It came across as a song that would have found a comfortable home on any one of their albums but with a fresh vibe. This video showed Koglek, Rasthofer, and Merwald jamming together in a state of bliss, blasting the sandy beaches and the lone dancer with sounds of jubilation and spiritual freedom. Watching that girl spin around in circles with her arms raised up high in the air confirmed that Colour Haze had not lost their psychedelic prowess and let us know that they, too, wanted to bring out a new album.
With every new Colour Haze album comes a little bit of experimentation and the first example of that here is “Call,” an eerie but gentle piece of music with nothing more than a lone guitar and Koglek secretly borrowing a trick or two from Mark Lanegan. The song feels like an evening of foreplay with a beautiful girl whose mission it is to challenge the weak and reward the strong. Every time a step is made for the song to break free, it doesn’t, and the lady remains clad. Ok, cool trick, but then it’ll be a sure thing that the levee will break at the next repetition, or the next. But no. If bets have been placed for a third-time’s-a-charm rock out, then too bad, the dealer wins. Instead, the song appears to come to a complete close without any sign of the rest of the band. But then out of nowhere, the tension is broken, the girl drops her robe, and the band breaks into a traditional Colour Haze jam, albeit very shortly, making “Call” an experiment with dazzling results.
The last track on the album is the title track and it might leave some confused. It is a song in which acoustic guitars and violins play cat and mouse with each other. The acoustic guitar, playing the role of the mouse, is playful, stylistically somewhere between flamenco and the Far East, dancing around without a care in the world. The violins hide in the background for most of the song, letting their presence be known but not yet coming out for the kill until close to the end, once the mouse has worn himself out. It is an interesting attempt at pitting these stringed instruments against each other, however this experiment is perhaps misplaced as the album’s closer.
Since the late 90’s, Colour Haze have been a force to be reckoned with, within the European stoner rock circuit, churning out album after album, each one a masterpiece in it’s own right. Their guitar tone is so recognizable, sounding gentle and thick all at once. The bass is swampy, hanging right in the sweet spot of the low end, and the drumming is always fantastic, holding a groove while simultaneously filling out the music with manic precision. Whether the band is up on stage nonchalantly kicking ass or their records are spinning on a turntable, Colour Haze is one of few bands that has consistently produced music of quality and integrity. “To The Highest Gods We Know” is no different. Though this album may not fully exemplify the band due to its short running time, it is an album that will stand proudly as the latest addition to the Colour Haze discography. (Victor van Ommen/thesludgelord.blogspot.com)
Stefan Koglek - Guitar, Vocals
Philipp Rasthofer – Bass, Hammond Organ (Track 4)
Manfred Merwald – Drums
&
Christian Hawellek - Electric Piano, Synthesizer (Track 3)
David Eschenbach - Flute
Albrecht Huber - Horns
Werner Aldinger - Horns
Modern String Quartett – Strings
Mathis Nitschke - Conductor
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