Product Description

After two intense, ragged releases that showed developmental promise, Comets on Fire truly arrived with their third effort--and Sub Pop debut--BLUE CATHEDRAL. The group's blend ofrazor-edged garage raunch, Echoplex-fueled psychedelia, proto-metal riffing, and indie-noise cacophony culminates in heavy-rock nirvana here, with the overdriven guitars, swirlingkeys, and octopus-armed drumming going every direction. Though Comets on Fire's sound is unapologetically retro--following in the footsteps of 1960s pioneers the Stooges, Blue Cheer, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, and Cream--the influences are sublimated in a way that is artful, energised, and fresh.
There are prog-rock touches on "Pussy Foot the Duke" and plenty of feedback-drenched dual guitar solos throughout (note the interlude on "Whiskey River") to keep the music circulating in the stratosphere. The surging processional "Brotherhood of the Harvest" and the minstrel-esque "Wild Whiskey" prove the band's penchant for textured, heady atmospherics, but heart-thumping, hair-raising noise is the band's real strength. The building thrash of opener "The Bee and the Cracking Egg", for example, is an appropriate signpost to the territory that lies beyond. Adventurous rock fans ready for something punishing, hypnotic, gutsy, and fun are encouraged totake the plunge.

Track Listing

1. The Bee and the Cracking Egg
2. Pussy Foot the Duke
3. Whiskey River
4. Organs
5. The Antlers of the Midnight Sun
6. Brotherhood of the Harvest
7. Wild Whiskey
8. Blue Tomb

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48086 in Music
• Released on: 2004-09-13
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!
Just a quick note to say what a fantastic album this is. Comets on fire squeeze more musical ideas into 44 minutes than most bands manage on 5 albums. If you not scared by music which embraces the past but also pushes the boundaries then this is a record for you. It's loud, peaceful, discordant, melodic, beautiful.

I can also recommend the latest from them 'Avatar'

Oh and may I suggest the last reviewer sticks with his Keane and Coldplay albums in the future.

TURN IT UP!
This album is quite amazing. These guys rock hard but there is something quite beautiful underneath all the chaos that really draws you in. The album is mostly instrumental and what words there are are quite impossible to discern but words really aren't necessary for this music. Bands that spring to mind when listening to this are: MC5, Stooges and Hawkwind with a dash of Zep but this doesn't sound like a throwback band. I get the impression that they want to take spacerock into the future. The album is full of unusual progressions, insane solos, echoplexing, phasing and freeform breakdowns.

I'd say that this album will be revered by a certain type of discerning listener who's been dying to have their head pummelled by some psychedelic noise maniacs for some time.

If you happen to enjoy this record might I recommend their previous album 'Field Recordings from the Sun' which is just as refreshingly chaotic.

If you don't like it.....sorry.

Another contender for best LP of 2004....
Comets on Fire are a band I came across amid Julian Cope's excellent website Head Heritage UK- Copey waxing lyrical about their second (already)classic Field Recordings from the Sun (reissued this year)& previewing this LP, the Comets'third. The band came together in 2000 & recorded an LP in the kinda manner The Band & The Kingsbury Manx recorded their debuts (...in their own beautiful world).

Comets on Fire should appeal to anyone who digs any of the following: The Stooges (especially side 2 of Fun House), Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, the more primal Led Zep (Achilles Last Stand or parts of the BBC Sessions), Cream, pre-Dark Side-Floyd, Blue Cheer, Mudhoney, Rocket from the Tombs, Lift to Experience,White Heaven, Royal Trux,Kyuss, or Jimi. It's a pretty wide remit here, but you'll know when you press play & the 7-minute plus 'The Bee & the Cracking Egg' kicks in; any notion that the Libertines or The Ordinary Boys or White Stripes or [insert here] are the future of music will just sound like a joke. The Comets ostensibly sound like loads of bands before, but manage at the same time to sound completely fresh: what gives?

This is primal head music- spacerock meets garage-punk, a wonderful balance between full-on-rockouts (with screaming vocals to rival Nick Cave in Birthday Party-mode or David Yow from The Jesus Lizard) & instrumentals (many emphasising More/Obscured by Clouds-style organ). Blue Cathedral is a complete trip & puts Kyuss' classic Blues from the Red Sun in context (a great LP, just the vocals are too metal, man!!!). Some of the instrumentals veer off into Kraut-ville, bands like Faust & Harmonia seem pertinent. Already this is contender for best LP of 2004 - & it's been a great year for records too. But this just blows me away- I love the fact that Whiskey River sounds a bit like 'Smoke on the Water' colliding with Pussy Galore & Melt Banana. Proof that rock & roll still has plenty of places to go...

We need chaos- the world is chaos - "chassis"- & Comets on Fire reflect that; Blue Cathedral is an utter masterpiece. If you don't believe me, or the much better writing on it/COF from Julian Cope (who gets a thank you on the sleeve), buy it for the song-titles alone: The Antlers of the Midnight Sun (as featured on the lovely Sub Pop sampler Patient Zero), Pussy Foot the Duke, Blue Tomb, or the aforementioned The Bee & the Cracking Egg. Comets on Fire already seem legendary- the kind of band that makes you want to destroy the rest of your record collection. WHOA!!!!!