Eternal Elysium - Within The Triad

One of my favorite bands ever is the Japanese Stoner/Psychedelic Doom masters "Eternal Elysium" and this has been a long wait for this,their fifth full length album "Within The Triad".From the opening track "Agent of Doom" you are instantly sucked into their Psychedelic Doom vacuum as the sound on this album is very very heavy but also so trippy in a Hawkwind - ish kind of way.This band have a uncanny ability to mix up sounds and influences from Sabbath,King Crimson,Black Widow,Hendrix to modern day exponents of everything from straight out Metal to Doom to Stoner to even grunge and make it work."Agent Of Doom" is one of their best tracks ever and you will be reaching for the repeat button time and again with this tune.The way the band can blend some slow and bluesy rhythms and crank them up with one hell of a heavy sounding Guitar tone is stunning.While there is a lot of heavy Guitar sounds in the world today,somehow the sound on here still remains somehow unique.Nothing quite sounds like it,the only way i can describe it is like a Doomed Up Version Of Hawkwind but that doesn't even do it justice.Every track on here is essential listening for lovers of Space Rock and Psychedelic Doom,check out the hypnotic quality of a track like "DPS" for a good example.The track is like a Psychedelic freight train pummeling your brain through 8 minutes of pure ear candy.The well seasoned Guitar work is better than ever,they seem to get even more polished with each release.There is also a distinctly need to experiment with styles on this album while remaining heavy at all costs,everything from African beats to Kraut rock is used to produce unbelievable results.Again another mind-altering release with no filler,i can't pick a favorite track but "Agent Of Doom" and "DPS" would have to come close.Yukito Okazaki has turned into a modern Guitar God and on this album he has taken another step up into Stoner Doom glory,the depth of his work is exceptional.I always thought "Spiritualized D" was their best album and this album is on par with that,maybe not better but just as good.On a personal note,this sucker cost me some $45 to order being a import only release at the time of this writing.I don't know if that has changed but it needs to because this band is sadly underrated and to a certain extent under-heard.Another killer release from the Japanese masters of killer Sabbathian Riffing.9.5/10