Man, I love it when a band brings the music! Not just the hard driving rhythms, the catchy melodies, or the dynamic conveyance of emotion through dramatic time changes. I love it when a band brings the music with pure passion, an edgy resentment for the status quo, and a bag full of fun! Water is Rising is an album packed with blistering rock tunes that shift in dynamics from spaced out hard edged psychedelic ditties to snot nosed punky fun. Mixed within these quirky elements and when the lads aren’t freaking out about riding roller coasters, Ecotone Refugees shower the listener with poignant lyrics regarding warfare, hatred, and religion. There’s no way you’re listening to this one just once. There’s way too much going on for that to happen.“Marathon” starts things off with a fuzzed out riff that brings to mind bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Fu Manchu. The music swirls around the ear drums and distorts the senses with wafts of THC. Stoned out vibes emanate from the speakers with a bass throbbing drone. The guitars appear and disappear like phantoms slipping in and out of the periphery. All of this creates this incredibly funky, groovy, and paranoid vibe throughout the tune. Maybe a little psychedelic, but never to the point of taking the listener too far within themselves and getting themselves lost in introspection. The song has a pair hanging and the bands not afraid to kick you in yours to make you aware of their existence.
And just to make sure that Ecotone Refugees are getting the point across that they can rock out with the best of them, “Wake Up” kicks in with some metal muscle that was a little unexpected. Still, the music has that ambient, spacey synth sound creeping around the verses, however, like a low flying missile the song propels us across the face of the planet rather than having us orbit Big Blue in the stratosphere. The chorus is one of a melodic and catchy beast calling us to wake up as a people and “stop the war, stop the bloodshed.” This is a personal favorite!
We’ve established that Ecotone Refugees can psyche us out while kicking our collective asses with some hard edged rock, so what do they do on “Losing Your Faith?” Well, like all the bands that I fall madly in love with, they change things up, show us some extra layers of depth to their songwriting skill, and slip in some jazzier toned passages to make sure we don’t drift away. The song starts off safe enough with its hard rock leanings, but by the time they get to the chorus, the band gets their freak on with some off time and quirky psychedelic circus music. And when they break off into musical euphoria midway through the song, all orthodox approaches to songwriting are thrown out the space hatch to join the rest of the miscellaneous debris encapsulating the Earth. I love it! Toss out the old and tired riffs of yester year, throw out every expectation that I have with the music and challenge me to listen to music from a different direction. The eight plus minute quasi-epic, “Baghdad Hell,” acts as the centerpiece to the album. Opening with some more of those heavily distorted guitar riffs that have the head bobbing in time with the groove, the song flexes that metal muscle once again. Suddenly, the bass and drums hold down the rhythm while the guitarists exchange a volley of distorted interchanges before joining the groove once again. Layers of synth drop from the skies like the bombs Baghdad has seen its fair share of, running with a Middle Eastern themed melody, capturing the mood of the tune. Again, more poignant lyrics, as sparse as they may be, questioning where God is through all of the hate and destruction of warfare. Big time stoner rock riffs propel this weighty number to its end.
Water is Rising makes me think, and with everything listen, I crack a smile that there are still musicians out there who aren’t afraid to mix things up. Ecotone Refugees have made me stop and think through the lyrics, all while they beat me stupid with wave after wave of distorted stoner rock. Any band that’s gonna’ throw in piano amidst the flurry of guitar riffs that have a hardcore edge is alright in my book. I don’t need to hear the same tired riffs played at the same tired speed for close to an hour. I need to have the way I listen to music challenged from time to time, and these Refugees have stepped up to me and slapped me across the face with a toasty loaf of sourdough. It didn’t hurt in the least bit, but it did get my attention. And for that, I thank them. Not sure why it had to be a loaf of sourdough. It could quite have easily been a loaf of rye, or multi-grain wheat, or plain ole boring white. Sorry . . . I digress. Water is Rising needs to make it onto your turntables at some point, folks. This music is far too important and interesting to be ignored. - Pope JTE
Buy here: Water Is Rising
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