Whitebuzz - Book Of Whyte

I could make this the shortest review in history by saying if you have heard Om then you have heard White Buzz but it wouldn't be fair on this Hannover trio because most of this album is irresistibly multi-dimensional and interesting but its also fair to say if you don't like Om, then stay clear of this band. The album contains 4 tracks and one untitled track spanning over 70 minutes that at times could be considered very tedious depending on your tastes for this style of cerebral music. White Buzz take the sludge elements of bands like Eyehategod and the chanting vocal style of Om to create extremely long psychedelic journeys into minimalistic sounds while still sounding multi-dimensional.
Its is interesting to note the reactions this album has got from the underground media, a lot of it is just plain viscous insults about the bands music while others have given high praise to the band. It is however refreshing to see the band has posted both points of view on their Myspace blog, not many bands are so open about such criticism's. My take on the band is more good than bad, i like the way they combine the stoner doom of bands like Sleep, the extended spacey attitude of a modern day Pink Floyd and the hypnotic qualities of Om to make these trippy jammy monoliths. The opening track "Pentaprisma" crawls out of the box with only a few riffs in the entire 15 minutes, its melancholic, psychedelic but also has some pretty dense heavy moments. The length of the track is its biggest enemy however because there is not much in the way of musical ideas to warrant a song that is so long. The rest of the album follows the same path but the songs are better, the 16-minute “A Journey through the Orchestral Labyrinth of the Wide Plateau" is the most Om-like track on the album but is also one of the best. Great guitar work from guitarist/vocalist Cris is subtle at times but the feeling the song gives off is relaxing just as much as it is a source of hypnotic heaviness, passages from the song could have been on Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful Of Secrets" album.

The 19 minutes and 28 seconds of "The Return of Phoenix" is the hardest track to sit through, it takes itself really seriously in its real slow and doomy intent even though you have to wait a good 5 minutes before the track actually starts to cook. The track basically has a Om meets Sleep approach but once again if have a hyper-activity disorder this track will have you pulling your hair out in restless frustration. "Antipocalypse" is basically 12 minutes of more riffs stolen from Sleep but done extremely well and if you ever actually get this far into the CD you will be rewarded for doing this as this the most straight-forward track on "Book Of Whyte" and therefore in a funny way is a welcome break from the oppressive nature of most of the music. The untitled track is hypnotic rhythm sounds for 5 minutes that really serves no purpose at all within the context of the album.
Despite the fact the album contains 4 real songs, it really could have been just one long concept piece a-la Sleep's Dopesmoker or it also could have been broken up into 3 or 4 Ep's to be made more digestible by the average doom fan. There is a lot to like about White Buzz, the guitar sounds are great as they move from the psychedelic to the real heavy and back again with effortless ease. The production is top-notch and has a nicely packaged layout. Musically the whole album is the same, it sounds a bit like Sleep but not as heavy and a bit like Om but not as artistic. Just super-long desert stoner doom jams, yep its not original but i like it anyway. 8/10

www.myspace.com/whitebuzz