SATURN'S HUSK is back with a new album "The Conduit" and it delivers a hour of epic instrumental music. The band blends psych, stoner, and doom into a sonic space flight that easily sends this album to the stars and onto Fuzzy's list of top albums of 2020. Check out "The Conduit" by Saturn's Husk on Bandcamp:
First off, this is an absolutely massive album, clocking in at an hour. Which gives the music time to do a slow burn and develop. The first 2 songs are slow and spaced-out, and it's not until "The Heavenly Ape" that we get a guitar solo that is, well, heavenly and blasts the album off into the stars.
And once the album is in orbit, it simply does not let up. "The Ritual" and "Spectral Haze" are both so good, the album could end there and I'd be raving about it. But it doesn't end there. "Mycelium Messiah" hits you with its fast tempo, ultra heavy bass line, and at this point I'm just completely blown away with how good this album is.
"City of the Djinn" offers a short respite to let you catch your breath before we head into the last 2 songs of the album. Are we going to return to earth after our amazing sonic space ride? Or will be just keep blasting out of the solar system on an unending cosmic voyage?
Well, at first you suspect you are on a return voyage back to the confines of our condemned planet, because "Sand Barrows" is a much slower and dreamier tune than the mid section of the album. Well, that's how it starts off anyway. By the end of the song, you realize Saturn's Husk isn't dropping you back to ground but instead is firing the afterburners on a course straight to the center of the galaxy. The guitars rip so hard on top of the slamming drums and heavy bass that there is no doubt we are traveling faster than light on a one-way trip into another dimension.
The final song, "A Shattered Voyage," proves the point that you've ended this voyage in deep space, with heavenly tones and a reading from the Poem "Ozymandias" written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. A great ending to a great album, and proves this band brings psych and space rock to their music just as easily as they bring the stoner and doom.
Again, this is a solid hour of music, which gives Saturn's Husk plenty of room to spread out their sonic talents, and give the album the ebb and flow to create a true experience. The riffs speed up, slow down, get heavy, go into space, and deliver a true journey of music that you simply can't appreciate on a shorter album.
You might think (and you'd be correct) that one possible downside to a long album is that it might contain some lesser or weaker material. You have nothing to worry about on "The Conduit." Every track holds its own, and more importantly, weaves itself into the overall sonic story that Saturn's Husk weaves.
TLDR; "The Conduit" by Saturn's Husk is easily one of the best instrumental albums of 2020.
Fuzzy's favorite: "Mycelium Messiah" or "Spectral Haze" but really, I could have picked any of the songs on "The Conduit" because every song stands out in its own way.
Saturn's Husk is from Rīga, Latvia with members:
- Lead & rhythm guitar - Jurijs Kaštanovs
- Bass & rhythm guitar - Regnārs Breikšs
- Drums & keyboards - Armands Baranovskis
From the band:
Instrumental Doom / Sludge / Psychedelic three-piece from Riga, Latvia, conjuring hypnotic riffs and psychedelic soundscapes since 2014.
Follow Saturn's Husk on Bandcamp at https://saturnshusk.bandcamp.com/
