New self-titled album from MONDO DRAG is just as their name suggests. The latest from these Groove/Progressive/Psychedelic Rockers doesn't seem to offer anything you can't find on every single other Psychedelic Rock album. Now I'm not gonna be overly harsh, turns out you get in trouble if you decide to do that. What I will do though, is point out the parts that were uninteresting to the best of my ability and try to make suggestions at how I would have enjoyed it better.

Let's start with the quality of the album, take for example other bands that play this sort of music. In Rock it would be your Groove and Psychedelic Rock and in Metal it would be the equivalent of Doom/Stoner Metal. So take bands like SLEEP, ELECTRIC WIZARD and JESS AND THE ANCIENT ONES for example, each of these bands play different kinds of the Psychedelic music but there's something each of them have very much in common and that's production quality. Where as MONDO DRAG have great quality, these other bands mentioned have a gritty quality that works for this kind of music best. It gives it that old, sitting in your basement, listening to vinyl and putting your head back and getting lost in it sort of feel. The well produced on the other hand removes that sort of psychedelic feel from it; the grittiness is something this kind of music needs.

My other gripe is the lack of the slow parts that you tend to lose yourself in. All the bands mentioned above have them, its just slow instrumental sections that you can close your eyes and you'll be lost in the music for the next hour without realising it. There was only one song I found a section like this in, that's the track "Plumajilla" right near the end. The band slows down completely for a slow instrumental part that was needed earlier in the album.

So although not a horrible release, MONDO DRAG lack the essence of what makes each of the popular Psychedelic bands successful. Still worth taking a look if you like the genre, maybe I'm wrong about how it should be done. Take a look for yourself and enjoy.<