Maybe it’s been mentioned and maybe it hasn’t that an ongoing project of mine is to go back and acquire in physical form many of the records I obtained by digital means while in college. The list is long and mostly forgotten, but it’s a passive thing. If I see one and remember it being good, I’ll grab it. This isn’t a project that keeps me up at night.

Much.

Kaptain Sun‘s 2003 full-length, Rainbowride, is one such album. I happened upon it during my last Vintage Vinyl excursion and figured there was no harm in picking it up. Listening through it for the first time the other day, it was basically as I remembered from back when: burly Swedish stoner metal with growly “Hey whoa yeahs” in the vocals and tough-ass riffs and drumming. Songs like “Invisible Dragons,” “Cosmic Magic from the Doomed Planets Below” (which actually explodes before it’s even halfway through, only to come forth and rock anew), “Rainbowride” and “Groove Hotel” came on like testosterone injections and the whole album has a sense of reckless abandon that makes for a fun listen. I mean, just look at that cover art. Who doesn’t want to rock with that?

Rumor (and by “rumor” I mean Kaptain Sun‘s MySpace page) has it that as of October 2007, the band is on break due to, “Geographic and priority related reasons.” Whatever that actually means, and whether or not they’re done for good, Rainbowride is a cool find for anyone seeking companionship a little more aggressive than what the usual stoner fare provides. It’s just as hard not to get behind the classic metal guitar solo on “Golden Harvest” as it is not to smile at the silly bopping rhythm of “Freedom.” In any case, it’s a good time, as the clip below for “Invisible Dragons” demonstrates.

Tags: Kaptain Sun, Rage of Achilles, Sweden

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Buried Treasure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.