ninehertz

Everyone knows that Riot Season Records is a brilliant label. They make tangible the output of some psych legends in vinyl form, but it's the new bands the label add to the roster and provide exposure to that excite me the most, always finding something just a little new, a bit weird to stand out in the crowded psych-sphere - think of Machiavellian Art or Codex Serafini - this is what I think of when I fondly think of Riot Season. And now Over-Gain Optimal Death arrive, definitively in that same bracket, described by the label themselves as speed freak psychedelic fuzz....

It is an apt descriptor. Raw and attacking your ears and balance equilibrium from the first second, the title track launches at you like Acid Mothers Temple as produced by the Stooges, the explosive meeting of the MC5 and Japanese psychedelia. You get the idea; it is sheer electrifying rock n roll carnage, a crash of instruments falling from a cupboard, an overload of the senses. There are only four tracks, which may be a blessing as the opening is so adrenaline infused you'd overdose with much more.

That being said, OGOD do really well to mix it up, each track has its own element and psych approach. No Lord's deep space effects introduction is eventually taken over by more static scarred fuzz wildness, yet for all that it is rough and rugged and rambunctious, it is different, the pace held back a smidgeon more than before, offering vital variance to survive whilst sat in this wind tunnel of noise.

Oversleep brings in this reckless groove that rocks back and forth, swaying uncontrollably like a wave riding ship at stormy sea. This is brilliant, irresistibly energising music, whilst Fallen Woman goes for a slightly longer-form approach, a familiar psych make up, metronome bass repetition allowing the guitars to wander and take in the universe.

Die Underground is an acid trip headfuck of wild abandon and wilder psychedelia, Over-Gain Optimal Death are the key masters to a rocky yet boisterously fun ride.