I first came across Voodoo Bloo at the time of their debut album, Jacobus, which was released towards the end of last year. Back then the band was pretty much ex-{Lucifer Gunne} frontman Rory McDonald, but now he has been joined by Daniel Maslen (guitars), Oli Cass (bass) and Jackson Kidd (drums) while still providing guitar and vocals himself. When I reviewed the album, I felt he was channelling a lot of honorary kiwi Serj Tankian and while that is still the case, there is no doubt that other forces are now being brought to bear. Rory says on this song he has been influenced by King Crimson, King Gizzard & Radiohead, which is also why they make me think of {No Broadcast}, but we also do need to mention Hawkwind during the finale, and while we are about let’s bring in indie bands such as Arctic Monkeys.
This is a real grubbling builder of a monster rocker, which starts with some Peter Hook bass and swirling keyboards before we gently work our way into the song itself. The keyboards and guitars combine to create a real ambience around the vocals, which are kept very much to the front of the production. As we move through the song, which feels far longer than 3 ½ minutes, more layers are added with some Simple Minds guitar notes, but always with the rhythm section keeping it tight and allowing experimentation to take place on top. A minute from the end and we have syncopation, and the song really starts to shift and move, changing direction and becoming more intense with each bar, with everyone starting to add to the piece. Finally, the band are rocking and blasting away, and it suddenly stops, just like that! I found myself staring at the laptop the first time it happened as the band was in such full flight that I just did not expect it at all.
The guys are currently in the studio recording their second album, The Blessed Ghost, and it is certainly going to be interesting to see what that is like as this is rammed full of different influences and definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 8/10
