Review: Torpedo Torpedo ‘The Kuiper Belt Mantras’

It’s fascinating, some 25 plus years later, the global reach of stoner/desert rock, and I’m endlessly curious about the various takes on the genre throughout the US, Europe, and the world. Case and point is the debut EP The Kuiper Belt Matras, from Vienna, Austria’s Torpedo Torpedo. Coming together in 2020, the three-piece present a spacey, trippy, mid-tempo, long-form take on the genre, with plenty of build, and reach, allowing these songs to naturally come into fruition.

Torpedo Torpedo 'The Kuiper Belt Mantras' EP

Witness lead single Black Horizon which features all the aforementioned traits, including a very nice guitar tone, rumbling bass, crashing cymbals, and behind-the-beat bashing. Vocalist/guitarist David Hüttner’s delivery sits somewherebetweenFrederick Nordin’sstyle on earlyDozerreleases, andSasquatch’smain man/riff lord Keith Gibbs, as he waxes on the band’s various cosmic goings-on.

Verge features some good, heavy, fuzzy, riffage from Hüttner, coupled with a killer rhythm display, courtesy of bassist Alex Herbst, who delivers in both tone, and style, as does drummer Marian Waibl, whose tone is also notable, as are his rolls, fills, and crashes, which are all well timed. Caspian Dust serves as an EP highlight, featuring a soaring chorus from Hüttner, as once again Torpedo Torpedo display their individual strengths on their respective instruments, showcasing they are all accomplished musicians while staying locked in as a cohesive unit.

For this reviewer though, the standout track is closer, Cycling Lines, an epic, spaced-out cosmic-desert musical journey that builds to some pretty serious riffage from Hüttner, as Waibl and Herbst run rhythmically parallel, holding the groove down, allowing for further guitar histrionics and shred from Hüttner carrying the EP to its conclusion.

an epic, spaced-out cosmic-desert musical journey that builds to some pretty serious riffage…

Torpedo Torpedo’s The Kuiper Belt Matras fell through my cracks a bit as it was released in June, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to come back around and absorb it. However, while this is an accomplished debut EP, and introduction to Torpedo Torpedo’s take on the genre, I did have a few minor grumbles.

For one thing, the tempo doesn’t fluctuate much between the tracks, so as I was digesting The Kuiper Belt Matras, I found myself checking the track listing frequently to make sure I’d moved on to a different song, or what I was hearing wasn’t a breakdown, or different section of the same track. As well, the topic of space, and the cosmos has been well-covered in this genre, and rightfully so, but in digesting some of the lyrics by Hüttner, as wellas the band’s mission statement, I was left with the feeling I had heard these many times before. 

Nonetheless, these opinions don’t diminish what a nice debut The Kuiper Belt Matras is, and I’ll keep an ear out for what Torpedo Torpedo release next.  

Label: Electric Fire Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

Scribed by: Martin Williams