Samsara Blues Experiment - Long Distance Trip

A band i have only recently been introduced to is Samsara Blues Experiment. This Berlin three piece were formed after psychedelic blues band Terraplane split in 2007. Samsara Blues Experiment play classic stoner rock, with a strong with a strong psychedelic vibe inspired by late 60's, early 70's music. They have some diverse influences include for example Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Sleep, Earthless and Mammatus. The band is formed by Christian Peters: vocals, guitars, sitar, organ, synthesizer, Richard Behrens: bass, effects and Thomas Wedder: drums and percussion. The band's sound is nothing new but the wide range of influences and instruments that they use gives the band a unique feel that sets them apart from other bands playing this style. The material on this album is as diverse as is their influences from the 13 minute "Center of the Sun" with its long wah-wah drenched guitar solo's to "Wheel of Life" which is a acoustic number. "Army of Ignorance" has the band heading into Doom Metal mode with a riff at the beginning that is real dark and moody. "Double Freedom" has the band sounding a bit like "Holy Mountain era Sleep" but stretching the music out into 20+ minutes of sprawling, jammy, psychedelic psyche rock. Someone described this band as "Imagine Robin Trower jamming with the guys from Sleep and add some Sitar" and a more accurate description would be hard to come by. One thing that is great about this album is how the different styles flow so smoothly into each other within the songs and from one song to the next. The whole band is driven by solid percussion, the fuzzed and effected guitars are never overused in a pretentious way. The bass playing is smooth but powerful and the vocals remind me of Dave Brock from Hawkwind. They have that lazy but cosmic vibe about them which fits in well with the psychedelic musical excursions they indulge themselves in. There is not much to hate about this CD, everything on it is essential listening if like the more psychedelic end of stoner rock. One question that must be asked though is why hasn't a big label or at least a big independent label picked this band up, they even toured the US on totally their own money. I guess its another example of how screwed up the music business is at the moment but if any band needs some support its this one. I have read some live reviews for the band and the reviews have been mixed so i am not too sure if the band can pulled this stuff off live or not. All i know for now is "Long-Distance Trip" is a solid, interesting psychedelic proto-metal journey of the stoner kind that while some of it wanders a little bit, there is also some killer grooves and hooks that are hard to get out of your head even after just one spin of the CD. Give them a listen. 9/10

www.myspace.com/samsarablues