Grails: The Black Tar Prophecies Vol.5

- Portland Oregon’s Grails have just wrapped up their national tour on the eve of the release of the fifth installment of the ever-growing Black Tar Prophesies saga. While some consider it to be a follow-up to the group's last LP Deep Politics, it is only an EP which is set to be evolved into a full length split LP with Finnish experimental group Pharaoh Overlord - who also happen to be our Grails' guys favourite band. From the get-go it does sort of feel as a stop-gap between now and the next record for the group. The EP contains just four songs lasting for around four and a half minutes each, which, in the world of Grails is merely a bite-sized portion. Still, the four songs contained are definitely great pieces of music that fans, no doubt, will snap up pretty quickly. Opener Chariots begins with an almost club constructed drum-machine loop, before outlaw acoustic guitars and harmonicas circle through your ears and then it sort of feels like a far more realistic version of what Muse tried to achieve with Knights of Cydonia, tethering that futuristic vibe to roots firmly dug into the world of the west. Towards the end it is hard telling what is going on with riffs scrawled and soundscapes sprawled all over the track finallycrammed into an unwanted fade out. Wake Up Drill II on the other hand takes you somewhere else, with Yes sounding guitars and this real classic metal feel to it in amongst, before half way through changing pace once more in a just barely less frantic Mars Volta manner and then, once again, awkwardly fading out just as you're getting down. Pale Purple Blues is a slow-burning psych jam with a real drive to the finish. The last track, Ice Station Zebra, by this point sounds a fair bit like the rest and indeed has a lot in common with old Grails material like Dead Vine Blues and, by the same token is something that you can live without. In this day and age of digital downloads and what have you there might be some life for this album, certainly as an entry point for people curious about Grails. However, all in all, Black Tar Prophecies 5 is something that is by no means essential for you to own. - Brad Armstrong.