A RAINING SUN OF LIGHT AND LOVE, FOR YOU AND YOU AND YOU

A New York quartet with big love for 1970s prog, stoner rock and psychedelia, Titan first surfaced during 2007 with this meaty debut release. Featuring the rather convoluted title 'A Raining Sun Of Light & Love For You & You & You...", this is an album buried deep in the annals of epic, wigged-out psych-rock, featuring four extended tracks that each charge lightning-paced through a heady sonic landscape of wild guitar riffs, crashing drums and oblique fantasy-flecked lyrics. Not unlike a brazen, marijuana-and-speed soaked mash-up of fellow psych-stoners Om, proto-metal pioneers Black Sabbath and the mystical atmospherics of both Pink Floyd and Gong, this is a truly remarkable journey to the outer limits of progressive psychedelia, though its also one of those albums that needs several listens - preferably whilst herbally medicated - to truly grasp. Strangely enough however it is only the opening ten-minute salvo 'Annals Of The Former World' that features a title, and for reasons that escape this writer the remaining three pieces all remain nameless. Yet this peculiar decision, in tandem with the dreamy blue artwork, merely adds to the albums overall blustery mystique. As a result, this helps 'A Raining Sun Of Light & Love For You & You & You..." come across not as a selection of separate tracks but as one epic slab of uninterrupted music, making for a mesmerising experience for those willing to fully immerse themselves into Titan's hypnotic groove. Occasionally, as found in the latter stages of the otherwise excellent motorik-grooved album closer, repetition seeps into the mixture, yet somehow it doesn't seem to actually matter. Titan's sound is a colossal one, brimming with a range of influences cherry-picked from the world of 'progressive' music. From the thunderous metallic snarl of 'Annals Of The Former World' to the celestial psych-rock passages and krautrock-kissed beats of the trio of nameless tracks that follow, this dense tapestry of influences weaves a powerful assault on the senses that grabs you by the throat and resolutely refuses to let go. You can also have fun picking out the many homages crammed into the mix - a game that may take some time - and then, at the very end, breathe calmly again as out of nowhere a gently-strummed banjo closes 'A Raining Sun Of Light & Love For You & You You...' on the most unexpected of notes. Awesome stuff. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012