Italian cosmic grunge rockers Oreyeon will release their new album, Equations for the Useless, on June 17 through Heavy Psych Sounds. The video for the leadoff track, “It Was Time,” is premiering below, and if you want to skip right to it, I won’t be insulted. The track is one of the total six on the 41-minute long-player, and as the third single to be released behind “If” and “Pazuzu,” it confirms/reaffirms a lot of what’s working in the band’s favor throughout especially the first half of the album.

Following up 2019’s Ode to Oblivion (review here) and their 2016 debut, Builders of Cosmos (discussed here) — the earlier outing under their former name, Orion — the four-piece of bassist/vocalist Richard Silvaggio, guitarists Andrea Ricci and Matteo Signanini and drummer Pietro Virgilio have grown heavier and more straightforward in their attack. They hold onto some of the psychedelic aspects of their earliest days in the general atmosphere and large-sounding mix, in some of the more atmospheric moments on the second half of the LP or at the start of the nine-plus-minute title-track, but their riffs are at the core of just about everything on Equations for the Useless and they’re grounded throughout.

It’s okay. Rock and roll suits them. And you like riffs, remember?

If not, Equations for the Useless might be a welcome reminder. “It Was Time” and “Pazuzu” are a relatively quick one-two, with the second track shorter and more directly harmonized in its vocals. Even deeper in the mix as on “It Was Time,” Silvaggio is a marked presence here as vocalist, and “Pazuzu” is a fitting showcase. He works in layers throughout, adding highlight basslines all the while to the title-track in winding around the riffs of Ricci and Signanini, reminding of early, maybe even demo-era Alice in Chains on “Equations for the Useless” itself while the band branches out a bit to coincide.

The crashout happens shortly after five minutes in as guitars feedback and the bass steps forward to herald the change, but instead of psych-jammy, they get heavier, push harder into the remainder of the track — a welcome and somewhat unexpected turn. Coherent. Purposeful. Righteous, even. Set in the band’s knowing what they want to do and choosing how to make a song hit. They ring out to give a quick-feeling end to side A — it’s only been three songs, after all — but there’s more depth to come as “If,” “Downward Spirals” and “The Protocol” shift structures and styles for the album’s second half.

That drum transition into the main beginning riff of “If?” Pure Kyuss. And they know it, which makes it even more fun. Would give labelmates Stöner a run for their money. The repeated lyrics — not quite a hook, since the chorus is instrumental — “Something is wrong with me” get to the core of the album’s depressive theme, and having been recorded mostly live in 2020 as goes the narrative (blessings and peace upon it), that struggle joins Silvaggio‘s vocals in being layered.

There is a bit of drift later in “If,” a line of droning synth or effects that comes forward, but they finish angular and purposeful, hinting maybe at a Baroness influence before the sweeping launch of “Downward Spirals” adds Elder to that mix. Unlike “If” and “Equations for the Useless,” “Downward Spirals” stretches its break out, adds lyrics, and builds up comparatively gradually to find a mid-tempo nod before its more thundering, thudding finish. It’s not so outlandish a shift, particularly on paper I admit, but it is a departure from what they’ve done up to that point on Equations for the Useless, the guitars working their way into a twist that recalls Colour Haze before paying off the Kyussy hint dropped earlier.

Their stop-cold ending there leaves closer “The Protocol” somewhat hanging out there on its own, but a slowdown, a metered chug, a long fade and the more generally dead-ahead construction are an effective bridge back to “It Was Time” and “Pazuzu” at the outset, the echo on Silvaggio‘s voice still giving a semblance of reach in terms of the overall sound. For having been around for at least six years and now made three full-lengths, Oreyeon still sound like a new band in some ways. This being their second album since rebranding, it definitely steps forward from the last (and, by extension, the actual first), and it carries with that a sense of ongoing progression.

Where the oft-cited cliché of a third record is being where a band realizes their initial potential, I’m hearing more forward potential here and I don’t at all get the impression that Oreyeon are willing to settle in sonic terms. That only makes them more exciting and a less predictable listen, so no complaints whatsoever. But before you take on Equations for the Useless, be ready to give it a few genuinely attentive hearings, both to let its riffs and hooks sink in, and to better appreciate the parts of it that willfully go elsewhere.

You’ll find the video for “It Was Time” below. Its images of a ship traversing troubled and ultimately stormy waters you would not accuse of subtlety in conveying the album’s depression, but it does nothing if it doesn’t fit the song.

Preorder links and PR wire info follows.

Please enjoy:

Oreyeon, “It Was Time” video premiere

Preorder: https://www.heavypsychsounds.com/shop.htm#HPS225

“Equations for the useless” is Oreyeon third album. The recordings took place in Bologna in late summer 2020 after several months of inactivity during the pandemic. It was recorded live, it shows the band’s psychedelic/progressive side yet it has the classic kick ass doom stoner tracks .The lyrics are about depression and its relation with life.

The band will be touring Italy and Europe during Summer/Fall 2022 to promote this new release.

OREYEON is:
Richard Silvaggio (Bass-Vocals)
Andrea Ricci (Guitar)
Matteo Signanini (Guitar)
Pietro Virgilio (Drums)

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Tags: Equations for the Useless, Heavy Psych Sounds, Italy, La Spezia, Oreyeon, Oreyeon Equations for the Useless

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2022 at 7:55 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.