Music is a complex subject these days. There's millions of songs in the world and thousands of ways to describe those songs. With these labels comes a lot of gatekeeping and walls that bands sometimes build around themselves to stay within their initial label. Then, there's SLAP GURU. These guys not only demolish any walls surrounding them, they don't seem to have ever had any walls to begin with. They're on their own plain made of Bluesy, Psychedelic, Stoner Doom Rock with whatever cool subgenres they find suitable to throw in with it. Their 3^rd studio album "Omashi's Odyssey" (arriving June 1^st, 2020) is a concept album revolving around the band's former guitarist Alberto Martin Valmorisco's novel of the same name. Even without reading the novel before listening, this is quite a wild trip to an alternate dimension.

"Meeting the Mermaids" has a ton of Indian music influence with sitar and percussion through the entire track. It creates a really dreamy, smoky introduction into this trippy album. "Acid One" is cool and bluesy. The distortion used on the vocals is really unique, it's wobbly and dreamy, like when you're on a massive high. The music drifts and dances along with it, enhancing this floating within your mind feeling. "The Dark Militia" is quite different. It's more on the aggressive faster paced side with some 70's Rock riffs folded all throughout. "Sidereus Fatum"  reels the hazy dream feeling back in. The melody is subtle and mellow, like floating on your back in a cosmic pool until nearly the 4 minute mark. Then you're ejected into the stars themselves with some chuggy bass lines and a PINK FLOYD style guitar solo. The ending is like a spiral into the unknown with louder riffs and a faster pace, plus some added dynamic to the vocals to pull you into "The Night With its Spells". You're suddenly enveloped in a BLACK SABBATH style Bluesy Hard Rock sound, right at the intro onward. I like how the mood builds from an elusive mysterious feel to one full of malice as the song goes along as well.

"Erkil" is a groovy track with bits that remind me of THIN LIZZY and LED ZEPPELIN. A very 70's Rock track for certain. "Who Can Say It's Night" is a Bluesy ballad. The guitars are quite emotional, sad yet beautiful. This song channels a surreal feeling of what happens when perception of time doesn't exist. The feeling of confused liberation of no time constraints is channeled beautifully in this whirling & dreamy track. "My Shadow Kills" has a grittier feel in the vocals and guitar riffs. There's just a dash of that middle eastern sound stirred into this track at points and a splash of some Grunge Rock; it all mixes together to create a post-apocalyptic vibe. "The Plastic Island" is a quirky trippy track with island flair in the melody. It feels like an INCUBUS song at times with the vocal harmonies and the overall laid back vibe the song evokes. There's some crazy cool synths at the end that just make you wanna go surfing... until the high dies down and you're sitting in squalor by the time the voice-over comes in.

All in all, this album is truly a trip. There's so many different styles of music, it can be difficult to describe what certain songs sound like. It's certainly not a bad thing though because these guys played their genre bending music incredibly well. Even with all these altering moods though, there was one thing that's consistent; the dream-like flair in every song. The way the pacing and melodies flowed and the mixing in general was distorted in a way that made you feel like you were floating through every song on some cosmic surfboard. It's an interesting effect I hadn't experienced while listening to an album before. I think the only thing I needed to fully love this album is the context of the story. I, of course, haven't read the novel this album revolves around and I have a feeling that the source material would add a whole other dynamic to this already fascinating album.