Track Listing

1. Dogwood Rust
2. Jaybird
3. Lucifer's Memory
4. Swallow's Eye
5. Holy Teeth
6. Sour Smoke
7. Hatched Upon The Age

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90525 in Music
• Released on: 2006-08-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

CD Description
Their third proper full-length and second album for Sub Pop, 2006's AVATAR is the most expansive and sonically varied release yet from Bay Area acid-rock combo Comets on Fire; it's also their most blatantly classic rock-inspired effort as well. Acting as something of a punk-rock auxiliary to the so-called "freak folk" movement of the early 2000s, Comets on Fire are not without certain obvious Summer of Love trappings, and the shuffling, near-jazzy noodlings that introduce many of the songs here sound tailor-made for the Fillmore West. While the band is still capable of scorching moments ("Holy Teeth" is a start-to-finish space rock juggernaut), they emerge from a more nuanced musical framework, making for a decidedly groovier trip through the rock-&-roll spaceways.

Customer Reviews

Avatar
Comets On Fire are a band I've known of for a while but not bothered to hear. All I can say is I'm glad I have bothered now!
Comets On Fire play a noisy & psychedelic, form of 70's inspired rock. If you imagine Cream playing with two intertwining guitars and the odd wash of keyboards and noise effects you'd pretty much nail what Comets sound like. It's an intriguing sound and one that's quite addictive to these ears at the moment. It's a sound that's bluesy & layered and takes quite a number of listens to appreciate, like any good record. The hooks and melodies aren't apparrent at first but they do show themselves after some time spent with Avatar.
Dogwood Rust has a very skittish, jazzy rhythm but it's addictive and you know you want more when the chorus kicks in. Jaybird begins in more or less the same vein but is a lot more melodic, utilising the two guitarsists extremely well. Comets have a really solid rhythm section over which evertything else is layered. The vocals aren't as up front as you'd think and everything has it's own oppertunity to shine through the mix.
Lucifer's Memory is probably the highlight, even though it's, in essence, a cheesy ballad. It just harkens back to the vibe of bands like Cream, Pink Floyd, & Led Zeppelin so much it can't not be apprectated. The melodies, guitar, piano and the singer's voice are all so good the cheesiness involved is completely excused.
The Swallow's Eye and Sour Smoke are two pretty lengthy, satisfying psychedelic jam tracks, in fact every track bar Holy Teeth clock in at over 6mins. Holy Teeth is the low point for me. It's a brash, shouty rocker and I'm definitely not adverse to brash, shouty rockers but it doesn't seem to fit within the album at all and disrupts the flow somewhat. Being only 3mins, it's a fairly disposable, uninspiring track. The rest of the album is satisfyingly original yet leaves a taste of all great 70s rock gone before it.
The last 3 tracks aren't as good as the first 4 causing Avatar to droop at the end but it's still a great album. I'll now have to look up more Comets stuff. I've heard that Blue Cathedral is a good one....

A great album that seems to have gone almost completely unnoticed
This really is excellent stuff. I haven't heard any of their previous outings so I can't judge on the progression of this band, but on the evidence of this they are very, very talented. I'm familiar with guitarist Ben Chasny through last year's release "The Sun Awakens" from his other very different outfit (Six Organs of Admittance). "Avatar" is nothing remotely like that, though that was also a great record.

What we have here is a band plating loud fast-paced rock music a la Cream, Deep Purple. I've come across Comets on Fire referred to as an "indie noise rock band". I get the noise bit, but this is unlike any indie band I've heard around at the moment. Whereas most indie groups seem to look to pop/rock bands of the 60s/70s as their inspiration, this is definitely inspired by early 70s hard rock and as a hard rock record this is truly in a class of its own.

The album only has seven tracks and all bar "Holy Teeth" (sounds Motorhead inspired to me) clock in at longer than six minutes. The first four tracks are more straightforward rock numbers, but all good. The highlight comes for me in track six, "Sour Smoke" and 8 minute plus bouncy number that IS more of what you might call indie music than the rest. It sounds like they are jamming in the studio with a riff they've just stumbled across, it's a throbbing beat accompanied by excellent keyboards. The final track seems to be an attempt to construct a classic rock standard and it is truly awesome. This shows to me that this band may really have something big just around the corner.

This is a great album that seems to have gone almost completely unnoticed. Completely below the radar for me. Brilliant stuff and I'll be listening to more of this band.