Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. ‘IAO Chant From The Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out’ CD/LP 2012

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. 'IAO Chant From The Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out' CD/LP 2012This release marks what feels like the unstoppable Japanese juggernaut known as the Acid Mothers Temple’s millionth outing. With a discography as eclectic as it is prolific, there are few branches of heavy/”out there” music that guitar wizard Kawabato Makoto’s group of demented psych-warriors haven’t touched on; this year alone has seen them churn out records of (by their standards!) pretty standard psychedelic freakouts as well as an abstract jazz album called “Son Of a Bitches Brew”. This particular offering belongs in the former category, and takes as its starting point a Gong track called “OM Riff/Master Builder”. However, where this band is concerned, there is no such thing as a straight cover, and this is decidedly one of their better efforts (look, I love them as much as anyone, but no-one can put out 3-4 albums a year and suffer no loss of quality whatsoever!).

One of the elements that I’ve frequently found lacking with the AMT’s recorded output is that the albums rarely match up to the power and sonic overload of their infamous live shows. Granted, there’s no way (except going to the show!) of experiencing the wonder of seeing Kawabata set fire to his guitar (and himself) and then proceed to pull out a second guitar solely for the purpose of smashing it to smithereens, or to gawp at the amazing dancing of keyboardist Hiroshi Higashi! But this album has the speed, variety and lunacy of those live shows, with the sound not being too much of a muddle at all, mixed just right and providing a very engaging trip to outer space.

These two tracks are easily one of the best representations of the band’s live sound (as the good folks at Riot Season promised!), and as such come with the highest recommendation for both newcomers and old fans of the band! People already acquainted with these guys know what to expect – for the rest of you, well, basically this is forty minutes of the best psychedelic freak-out zap-your-mind band on the planet, at the peak of their powers, and frankly no-one else comes close to matching the aura of humour and technical wizardry on show on this very fine record!

Label: Riot Season
Website: www.acidmothers.com

Scribed by: Saúl Do Caixão