AYAHUASCA DARK TRIP

I grew curious about this enigmatically titled group by the fractal color display of their album covers and recommendations from a friend. The musicians of the trio come from Latin America and Netherlands, signaling the global presence of fine quality mind-altering expressionistic rock music. The EP begins its pilgrimage from "Astral Sunset" with calm paced walk on vast surreal landscapes. Guitar blasts quite powerful stoner gear in, organs and effects circling around the firm progression of drums and powerful bass guitar. A valley of more serene breathing space is discovered, hollow winds and bass lines keeping the movement on, until the lights dim leaving only drums on the stage. The "Mind Journey" started, a tribal aural scenery is presented by jungle sound tapestries and a primitive chant, which melody morphs slowly to the amplified string instruments. The union of these contrasting presentations of ancient singing are treated with fine heavy sludge emphasis, reminding the dystopic force of Ufomammut and also the groovier acid metal of Earthless. The rhytmed riff sequences lead to an open radiophonic effect modulation event, escaping far to electronic ambiences, reflecting echoes of song's guitar riffs through the shimmer of crystalline drones. From the serenity of this cosmic event rises calm, reverbed "Space Raga" for the guitar, contrasting the denser first compositions which had interesting characteristics of morphing from their original starting points to quite imaginative straits. The tame meditation of this third track leads the pilgrim finally "To The Holy Mountain", appearing from horizon through backwards turned drums and frightful potential lurking beneath the muted riff progression. Upfront mixed electric guitars answers the riddles needed for approaching, and the drums are turned for correct causal direction with an interesting manner. The monotonic droning gains power from the strengthening fury of guitar outbursts, which finally elevates from to cosmic planes leaving the void of bare mountaintop carry the memories of the spacious mind journey. Very, very promising, and it would be interesting to hear how the band evolved on their further releases.

AYAHUASCA DARK TRIP's second trip for another Krautrock world, with dark ambient shower.

By the way, a fine expression for me that they have called their second album "The Unknown Trip At The Top Of The Mountain". Wondering where they should try to go at a mountain whilst listening to this album, and it's not easy to understand their fuzzily veiled mind. Drastically warped dark ambiance with rigid electronic knocks / scrubs might make their real mind depth more obscure and more mysterious. Infernal shouts with non-percussive complex structure can blow our brain and squeeze us into weird mind-altering catastrophe. Soon after a bit safe and sound comes to us in the latter part of Pt. I, dry and inorganic experimental / avantgarde side of view completely absorb our vitality, without moisturizing at all. This scene sounds like some Krautrock projects like Semool or Iskra ... oh nope, more dreamy alongside of their psychedelia drenched in ethnic / tribal atmosphere that can be heard in the third track. Amazingly their noisy appearance here and there cannot annoy us but pick us up to their dreamy sound shore.

The last two trips get more of experimentalism / avantgardism / Krautism, with no stiffening but softening sound garden beneath our deep mind. Cannot call this creation as a simple stoner / psychedelic stuff really, they might have been reborn in this album I guess. So not recommended as a psychedelic progressive one but let me say we can enjoy their entire kaleidoscopic alteration without any suspicion.

Much suitable for the phrase "Dark Trip" ... AYAHUASCA DARK TRIP can be the conductor into dark / stoner trips.

A multi-national (Peru - Brazil - Netherlands) rock project AYAHUASCA DARK TRIP may have been inspired and saturated by multi-national music essence ... Southern rock beats, Western heavy / metal / stoner style, and mysteriously Eastern- or Indo-oriented psychedelic fuzz. Lots of elements now mentioned can be seen here and there, in such a simple (but deeply-matured) structure of their songs. I'm sure the first bullet "Astral Sunset", pouring bulky loud stoner psychedelic riffs continually, can absorb lots of stoner rock freaks all over the world (including me) ... let me say, as a Japanese, their Oriental flavour is not assertive at all but their soundscape can be seasoned with this mysterious flavour. Furthermore, infernal sound effects created mainly (maybe) by Pedro and Brayan is beyond expression, making us achy-breaky indeed. Magical chorus with kaleidoscopic noises in "Mind Journey" should push us listeners off into hallucinogenic state of mind (cannot realize what the words mean but croon beyond ourselves surely). Under a magnificent rainstorm of their dreadful but comfortable sounds, we cannot be confused but go ahead into another meditative square. Bizarre electronic experiments and dry-fruity synthesizer or keyboard solos under their stone-based psychedelia can remind us something of Krautrock like Brast Burn. Another novel texture can be heard in the last "To The Holy Mountain" ... an improvised guitar solo by Brayan, Buddy's rumbling bass-quake, and Pedro's steady, keen, scooping drumming ... all are encouraged and well-furmented, matured together, like a great whisky.

The third "Space Raga" is the most challenging improvisation journey of all in this album ... and yes, for me it's the real mind journey. Mellow and plaintive guitar-based creation, with a bunch of music characters popping up one by one, definitely can veil us with its safe, watery sounds, and terrific intervals between one phrase and another. Suggest we can consider them as not a simple stoner psychedelic progressive but exact Mind Journey?

A splendid and very promising work.