NARCOTICA

Following on from 2007's 'Alcoholocaust', it is hard to believe that this 2009 release is the work of just two guys, with Cage providing all the music and Viggo Domino all the vocals. When I first started listening to the album I thought I had it pegged at Steely Dan style Seventies rock, but it didn't take long for those thoughts to be blown away. Musically this is all over the place, from Gabriel and Porcupine Tree through Styx and Floyd, Flower Kings, It Bites and many others. It is strange, yet easy to listen to: it is complex and chaotic, a ramshackle mess of music that somehow works incredibly well. The very first time I played this I fell in love with it, as there are so many changes of styles that it just shouldn't work, shouldn't gel, but somehow it does, and I have no idea how that can happen.

Just sit back, turn it on, and enjoy the ride, just don't have any preconceived ideas before you do so. They even bring in middle eastern elements when they feel the time is right! In some ways, it feels more like a project than a band, but it certainly never sounds like the work of just two people. There is light, there is passion, and they are pushing the boundaries and refusing to accept they must stay inside the lines, and all power to them for doing that. An incredibly solid album, and one I enjoyed immensely.