Deep Space Destructors, Visions from the Void: Far Outward
Posted in Reviews on December 17th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Deep into the album comes the hook that says it all. “Abandon space and time/Freedom lose your mind.” It’s what Deep Space Destructors have been saying all along, but it’s not until the fourth of the five total tracks, on the aptly-titled “Floating,” which leads off side B ahead of closer “From the Void,” that they actually come out and say it. Their advocacy of that position, however, is writ large across Visions from the Void, which follows less than two years from early 2017’s Psychedelogy (review here) and pushes into new cosmic reaches for the band, expanding their sound and reach along an interstellar plane of surspace, dimensions intertwining as the core trio of bassist/vocalist Jani Pitkänen (also percussion), guitarist/backing vocalist Petri Lassila and drummer Markus Pitkänen welcome a host of guest performers. Perhaps chief among them is Scott “Dr. Space” Heller, who also helms Space Rock Productions, which is the label behind this and the last release.
Heller, who also captains the USS Øresund Space Collective, contributes analog synth to all five cuts on the 43-minute LP, but he’s hardly alone here, with Antti “Yskä” Ylijääskö adding sax to side A finale “Tyhjyyden Mantra,” Joonatan Elokuu donating synth, mellotron and vocals to the aforementioned “Floating,” and Tyhjä Pää giving further drone and ambience to “From the Void.” The latter two are return appearances, but even so, their coming back is emblematic of the growth Deep Space Destructors have undertaken since their 2012 debut, I (review here), and indeed, as their evolution has unfolded across 2013’s II (review here), 2014’s III (review here), 2015’s Spring Break from Space EP (review here) and Psychedelogy, they have only proceeded outward, and Visions from the Void is their most resonant work yet, unfurling with motorik beats and drifting atmospherics along a directed swirl that holds an underpinning of consciousness even as it seems to “lose its mind” along the lysergic meditation. From opener “Psyche Remade” onward, the band only affirms their maturity and their mastery of the spaced-out forms, calling to familiar genre tropes while putting their own stamp on them in craft and manifestation.
There’s little by way of fanfare at the outset. A quick introduction of a winding guitar line starts “Psyche Remade” and within the first 10 seconds of the album, Deep Space Destructors set themselves to the work of melting brains. Their style has never been to completely jam for jamming’s sake, and not that there’s anything wrong with that approach, but the trio’s process has only come to work more for them over time, resulting in hooks that act as beacons along their charted course into the titular void. They’ve done this in the past as well, but Visions from the Void finds Jani a more confident vocalist, higher in the mix and more of a presence even as his voice is coated in a range of effects. “Psyche Remade” has standout lines urging sonic enlightenment, and that frames much of the perspective from which the rest of the record draws, a kind of expand-your-mind-blow-your-mind advocacy the second cut “Astral Traveller” soon affirms in its last line, “Free your mind/Only love can remain,” after six minutes or so of primordial space rock groove and molten synth.
Tense, progressive and classic, its genre elements are nonetheless presented with a sonic heft that classic space rock could never have claimed as its own, pushing into a realm of heavy psychedelia in its low end that only seems to emphasize the throb at heart in the rhythm and the faroutification of what might otherwise be a straightforward structure. Heller has a marked effect on the atmosphere, but as “Tyhjyyden Mantra” crashes in its nine-minute grandeur to take hold and introduce not only the end of side A, but really the crux of what will follow in the final two tracks, there’s a darkening of mood that even the surrounding swirl can’t contradict. As the centerpiece, “Tyhjyyden Mantra” swaps out English lyrics for the band’s native Finnish, and along with the arrival of Ylijääskö‘s saxophone, it provides a pivotal turning point in the narrative of the record, marking the place where one is given over to the cosmos itself in that embrace of enlightenment, becoming one with dark matter as a necessary step in that. There’s a quiet moment that starts just before the five-minute mark and is soon topped by chants and leaves on a build that I wish was longer, but it accomplishes the purpose the band has for it as is, and soon departs for an effective sax-laced semi-wash that holds out to a graceful finish.
“Floating” starts with the lyrics noted earlier, and makes itself a standout not only through its lyrical quest for freedom of mind and spirit, but through its near-orchestral progressive arrangement. The additional synth and mellotron give further breadth to that which the band has already established — and among those elements, the midsection a stretch of gotta-hear bass and guitar interplay well worth noting — particularly the mellotron arriving shortly before seven minutes in to lend a dramatic feel to “Floating”‘s apex before the return of the vocals ultimately bring it full circle. As the only inclusion to pass the 10-minute mark, “From the Void” is immediately distinct as well, but it’s more the hypnotic initial rhythm that makes it so, and the sense of arrival is multi-tiered. As listeners, we’ve arrived at that moment of freedom so fervently championed throughout the four songs prior, and as a band, Deep Space Destructors have arrived at a new level of presentation and storytelling in their work, creating a thematic arc to convey their ideas across the album’s entirety. That’s an achievement not to be understated, but their execution of the semi-title-track is in no way bludgeoning listeners with what’s happening.
Rather, it rolls out fluidly atop a steady push of drums as bass, guitar and synth craft a nod that’s both psychedelic and a fitting bed for the lyrics, a kind of watery chant that keeps aligned with space rock traditionalism even as the music behind seems to tap into mantra-ism in a different and exciting way. They cap in motorik but still smooth fashion with a guitar solo leading the way out toward what comes after the void. And one supposes that’s really the question that remains. Deep Space Destructors have found this avenue of expression and made it their own. Over the past six years, a steady growth has led them to this point, where the aspects of genre they’ve absorbed have been remade at their will. So what happens now? It does not seem to me that they’re at any kind of end point in their progression. Nothing on Visions from the Void indicates a feeling of being staid. So what comes after sonic enlightenment? Where in the cosmos do we go next? It’s a story that ends and begs further elaboration, and I for one can’t wait to find out in the next chapter from Deep Space Destructors.
Deep Space Destructors, Visions from the Void (2018)
Deep Space Destructors, “Floating” official video
Deep Space Destructors on Thee Facebooks
Deep Space Destructors on Bandcamp
