Instrumental stoner rock
Sons of Alpha Centauri are an instrumental stoner rock band residing in the Thames Gateway Swale area (Sounds either like a multi-storey car park, tower block or dual carriageway). Formed on the hottest day of 2001 (they were probably suffering from heatstroke)
Nick Hannon (Bass) and Marlon King (Guitars) founded the band and wrote 25 tracks before bringing in drummer Stevie B. and Andrew Blake who worked closely with the band to deliver textures (TEXTURES!) samples and atmospheric ambience. New one on me. To say you are responsible for textures, sounds like something you'd do in year 4 art class. Its like saying Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen is an ethereal painter and decorator.
Tracks are all composed as numbers (track 1 – 2; track 2 – 14, track 5 – 23 and so on) Apparently the numbers correspond to their chronological order and are ALL instrumental offerings. Even more apparently (shite grammar but who cares) SOAC (one letter away from a great group) are an equal opportunities group who refuse to compromise artistic integrity for commercial gain – Bollox! If youre not in it to sell cd's, become famous, shag women, then don't come up with such shite. Try telling that philosophy to some of your alleged peers.
Here we have uninspiring, bland-ish offerings, sounding (if you want comparisons) to a Kyuss/ QOTSA vibe with a smattering of Tool thrown in for good measure, but a mellower less exciting version. The guys are obviously inspired by Josh Homme who I never found to be particularly at the cutting edge of rock music.
So what about the music, nothing really stands out over the first few songs. Track IV. 25 actually has a riff I recognize from the Scorps Coast to Coast (another exc instrumental track) albeit a very brief riff. The songs just merge into one another with no great differentiation in melody, until now! 23 is the best song/track on the CD so far. It seems to have more of a purpose, better constructed sound with some Star Trek 'phasers on stun' sounds. Must be the textures! Then its back to more of the same uninspiring melody.
I like instrumental tracks and there are some damn fine examples should you care to seek out Steve Vai 's Passion and Warfare, Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien, and Liquid tension Experiment. All are wonderful examples of full-on instrumental music. All of these have one thing in common, absolutely world class composer/virtuoso guitarists. Not all are old examples, recent bands include Apocalyptica who are well worth a tenner of anyone's hard earned spondoolies
Generally I didn't get along with it. Instrumental albums are enough in small doses as it is! The CD is more riff based rather than any shredding. Its competent enough but without frenzied soloing, time changes, and a pulsing rhythm section. Basically it left me a bit cold.