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Saturna & Electric Monolith Premiere Turned to Stone Ch. 4 Split in Full

Saturna Electric Monolith Turned to Stone Ch 4

Tomorrow, April 15, marks the release of the latest installment of Ripple Music‘s split LP series, Turned to Stone. Bringing together two acts out of Barcelona’s underground in Saturna and Electric Monolith, Turned to Stone Ch. 4: Higher Selves, boasts four new tracks from the former and five from the latter, and though one doesn’t necessarily know it yet the first time pressing (clicking, tapping, etc.) play on Saturna‘s “Keep Me Trying,” which opens the proceedings with riffing born of Kyuss and Goatsnake as delivered through fuzz-boogie post-Sabbath-blues tonality, the two bands are more than suitable company for each other, Electric Monolith answering back later with the psychedelic hints at the outset of “By My Side” before they start the Uncle Acid shuffle and dig into a verse that reinvents Led Zeppelin‘s “Dazed & Confused” lumber as a vocal melody and go on to present their own vision of then-meets-now heavy in complement to Saturna earlier. I don’t know if these two bands hang out or what, but if not, they should probably be friends in real life.

The exceptional ease of the transition between one band and the other — and no, that does not mean they sound the same, because they don’t — makes Turned to Stone Ch. 4: Higher Selves a surprisingly smooth listen front-to-back, and while the strikingsaturna cover art might catch the eye, it’s the hints toward Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in “Keep Me Trying” that lock the brain in place. Saturna‘s guitars are thick but not ridiculously so, and neither they nor Electric Monolith are aiming for largesse of sound as much as dynamic and the ability to physically move, a live energy captured on tape for parts active or mellow. “Following the Sun” offers pastoral vibes via electric and acoustic guitar and a melody that vaguely calls out to Blind Melon while foreshadowing the Zeppelinism to come on side B, and “Drowning” makes full use of the deceptive amount of space in the mix for start-stop riffing that is effective both loud and quiet before a highlight climbing solo and a swinging finish. “Don’t Run” rounds out Saturna‘s half of the LP and is a little more theatrical with the organ and piano behind the vocals, almost leaving one to expect a choral backing, but the lead tone later is dead on ’70s and the vocal melodies that cap are sincere and memorable. That track is somewhat buried in the transition, but would well earn a place either on Saturna‘s next full-length or its own 7″. A band doesn’t write a song like that every day.

A quick hum of fading in guitar noise, a drum fill, and Electric Monolith are on their way into “By My Side” with an immediate deftness of rhythm that serves them well throughout their five inclusions. Someone needs to mention Hendrix here, so it might as well be me, but “By My Side”‘s wah heroics give over to the much-more-EddieHazel “I Hope You Feel Better,” which is a sub-two-minute interlude offering with percussive backing and drifting into the boogie at the outset of “Hold Me Again.” If you have a quota for catchy, “Hold Me Again” will see it met, but in its sharp 2:55 electric monolithexecution there’s still room for a bit of prog-rock chase in the middle, which is bookended after by more repetitions of the title lyric and the groove that’s been so reliably locked in all the while. It comes all the way to a close before the drift of “So Lonely Drying” and backing hand drums, watery vocals and soft-noodle guitar does for “Planet Caravan” what “I Hope You Feel Better” did for “Maggot Brain” — namely incorporating it into Electric Monolith‘s own context of songwriting and performance as they make it their own. There’s a 10-seconds-or-so stretch of quiet before “Nightmares” kicks in to put the final stamp on the split and strut out Iommic blues with appropriate showiness as the vocals match the guitar line. The longest track from either band at 6:49, “Nightmares” summarizes Electric Monolith‘s portion well, with a fleet sense of movement and by ending not with a huge crescendo, but a classy kind of drifting out.

In that finish, Electric Monolith tie their half of Turned to Stone Ch. 4: Higher Selves together with a fluidity and a sense of bigger-thinking that mirrors Saturna before them. Neither band here is just throwing tracks on tape to see what sticks. There’s a clear intention to establish a flow such that each side is like a mini-album that ultimately complements the entirety of the release taken together. You’re not going to hear a ton of hype about this one, most likely. For those who’ve followed Ripple‘s splits since the days of The Second Coming of Heavy, that they’d offer a product with such a sense of curation behind it — credit apparently to John Gist of Vegas Rock Revolution — shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is a stirring reminder that these releases aren’t to be taken for granted just because there’s a back catalog of them at this point, and that while the title of the split might be cumbersome, the actual barriers to entry are minimal if not nil and the passion behind the work these two bands from Barcelona are doing more than justifies the showcase.

Speaking of, the entirety of Turned to Stone Ch. 4: Higher Selves can be streamed here on the player below.

Please enjoy:

SATURNA / ELECTRIC MONOLITH
‘Turned To Stone Chapter 4: Higher Selves’
Out April 15th on Ripple Music

PREORDER: https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/turned-to-stone-chapter-4-higher-selves

TRACKLIST:
Side A – Saturna
1. Keep Me Trying
2. Following The Sun
3. Drowning
4. Don’t Run
Side B – Electric Monolith
5. By My Side
6. I Hope You Feel Better
7. Hold Me Again
8. So Lonely Drying
9. Nightmares

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Electric Monolith on Facebook

Electric Monolith on Instagram

Electric Monolith on Bandcamp

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Ripple Music website

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2 Responses to “Saturna & Electric Monolith Premiere Turned to Stone Ch. 4 Split in Full”

  1. Miller says:

    It’s a read like this that keeps me coming back to The Obelisk again and again.

    Thank you JJ!

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