Album Review: Telekinetic Yeti, Primordial
It’s a god damned riff bonanza, is what it is.
Guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann and drummer Rockwel Heim comprise Dubuque, Iowa’s Telekinetic Yeti and Primordial is their debut on Tee Pee Records and second album overall. Recorded by Phillip Cope (formerly of Kylesa, producer of Black Tusk, Irata, the original Baroness EPs, etc.), Primordial follows the riff-worshiping Midwesterners’ 2017 debut, Abominable (review here), and years of obviously-interrupted-there-for-a-while touring, as well as a lineup change that brought an ugly split between Baumann and fellow founder Anthony Dreyer, who now plays in Twin Wizard. Restored to a duo, Telekinetic Yeti strike with maximum force and gravity on Primordial, laying claim to the beginnings of a generational shift and making their influences their own through their megatonality and absolute willingness to speak to the ‘stoner’ in stoner rock.
Those who dare the 11 songs and 43 minutes of Primordial will find a more fully realized version of Telekinetic Yeti for their efforts. Granted, Abominable had “Stoned and Feathered,” but with the second record, cuts like “Ancient Nug,” “Stoned Ape Theory,” and “Toke Wizard” outright don the trappings of weedianism, and that’s even more telling since “Stoned Ape Theory” — also the longest song at a still-ready-to-squeeze-into-the-live-set 5:25 — which hypnotizes even as it seems to pummel you further into the ground with each of its many thuds, is instrumental. Theoretically at least, they could’ve called that anything at all, and the title they chose is telling about both the audience they’re speaking to and the self-aware manner in which they’re doing it.
Influences show themselves like YOB in the opening title-track, High on Fire in the call-to-war drums on the closer “Cult of Yeti,” The Sword in the uptempo bouncing shove of “Toke Wizard,” earliest Mastodon in the barks from Baumann late in “Ghost Train,” or how the fuzzed-out guitar solo interlude “Light in a Dying World” speaks both to Earthless and Hendrix with a rumble of its own underneath, Floor in “Ancient Nug” and the melody and movement of centerpiece “Beast,” and maybe some Red Fang in “Tides of Change” a short while later, but that’s the point. Telekinetic Yeti have taken these elements, melted them down with the heat from burning tube amps lit by the central nodder riff in “Rogue Planet” into what I’ll assume is a very dense, very heavy black iron cauldron, and created a sound that can only be defined as their own from it. Sure, Conan put their guitar (and bass in their case) tone at the forefront of their immediate impression as well, but that’s the point. Telekinetic Yeti represent a new generation of heavy that’s learned from what’s come before.
There is not one song on Primordial that isn’t ready to be memed about — from the shut-up-and-take-my-money hook of “Ancient Nug” to the when-the-slowdown-hits slowdown of that song or “Invention of Fire” — and though that sounds like a joke, it’s actually crucial to comprehending how Telekinetic Yeti are engaging with their listeners. Think about meme culture at large. It is a generational advent, distilling elements of popular culture, news, life, anything into a concise, snappy, often impactful statement with an intention to be seen and appreciated even outside of an understanding of the joke if it is one. Telekinetic Yeti likewise have processed the heavy stylings of the aughts — now 20 years ago — and crafted Primordial as a distillation with its own purposes and its own expression. And like with meme culture at first, or like with the wave of bands noted above who were tagged “hipster metal” when they came out and broadly derided, there invariably will be those who call this album derivative instead of understanding that Telekinetic Yeti are a fresh representation of the tenets of genre, and they at very least sound like they know it.
In “Cult of Yeti,” the chorus issues both the challenge and the proclamation, “You will never scale these mountains,” and even the idea of the song, album, band as such a giant rock formation is in conversation with the genre itself, from Sleep to Stoned Jesus. But if you’ve hit those lofty peaks, it’s these mountains we’re talking about now. This tone, this delivery, this vitality that is Telekinetic Yeti‘s own. Even calling the album Primordial — let alone the maybe narrative of bombed-brain evolution between “Stoned Ape Theory” and “Tides of Change,” “Invention of Fire,” and so on — is emblematic of Baumann and Heim‘s deep-running vision of what they want the band to be and to do. This is stoner metal stripped, as Max Cavalera once put it, “back to the primitive.” There is no feigned attempt at sounding progressive or like they’re trying to push the genre forward. Telekinetic Yeti may eventually do that, but one suspects that even if they do it will be on their own terms given the strength of the statement here in the opposite direction.
This is a band willing to be big, lumbering, bringing their riffs down on you like an avalanche or a wrecking ball — take your pick — and while Primordial is atmospheric even at its most intense moments, its purpose is unwavering. If there’s pretense here, I’m not sure where, but at the same time, there’s a sense of stage presence to the music, the push of the duo in the headspinning middle of “Invention of Fire,” the lead notes and sticks-on-the-rim-of-the-drum that begin “Toke Wizard,” and in that nasty feedback and layered-over plod of “Ghost Train” — never mind the actual hooks in cuts like “Primordial,” “Ancient Nug,” “Cult of Yeti,” and so on — that feel purpose-crafted to tour with as much as circumstances might permit.
And maybe that’s where they’ll most shine, in a live setting, but the substance of Primordial is still more than just an advertisement for showing up to the gig and buying a shirt. The declarative aspects of Telekinetic Yeti‘s songs, the attention to detail in the mix, the depth of their sans-bass low end, the head-in-clouds largesse of the riffy monoliths they’re building; it all speaks to a band who are looking to position themselves at the forefront of riff-based heavy, and as they continue to put their work in on tour — perhaps more than ever, with live music “back” and their lineup concerns seemingly settled — it’s entirely possible they’ll get there.
In the spirit of Primordial, I’ll say it simply: This shit fucking crushes. Ace riffs. Killer delivery, killer sound, enough variety, knows what it is and how to do what it wants. Band with a plan. They nailed it. Stone on.
Now shut up and take my money.
I’m enjoying the album so far. I’m wondering which versions of the songs they share with Twin Wizard people will like better. TY has “Ghost Train” and “Toke Wizard” on this album, TW has “Ghost Train Haze” and “Smoke Wizard” on 2020’s “Glacial Gods” album. They’re the same songs with each band doing their own versions.
I expect some advantage will be given to those that came first. Honestly, I think both bands will do well with a few more years between themselves and the drama.
Cult of Yeti is the 3rd shared song as well. Interesting choice for both bands to use those songs. One of them should just hire a bassist at this point.