Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.- "La Novia" (2000)

Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. are an extremely large "spirit collective" from Japan who stand as monoliths in the current experimental rock scene as one of the most prolific and varied bands around, going from ephemeral noise rock blasts to strung-out psychedelic droning.



"La Nòvia" is one of Acid Mothers Temple's most celebrated albums, and the 40 minute title track is nothing short of a monolithic masterpiece for the group. The piece starts off with resonant, guttural chanting before a heady electric guitar riff comes piercing through while the ghostly voices swirly around in the foreground, and before long, the song launches headfirst into a sitar-esque instrument riffing and droning on before an wild 70s-esque psychedelic guitar solo comes in as the rest of the band whips itself into a tempestuous howl that builds around the guitar solo, until before long, the Indian instrumentation comes back in full swing with all kinds of spacey effects careening around the track wildly. Midway through, the track becomes a beautiful, strung-out drone reminiscent of Cale's work with the Velvet Underground in the late 60s - the long, drawn-out tone instantly conjures to mind classics like "Heroin". The song slowly establishes a new equilibrium, with spaced-out psychedelic guitar melodies and all manner of buzzing and bleeping effects scattered around on the track with the dreamy string drones continuing on in the background. The song just feels so beautiful and blissful at this point, drawing you in and sedating you with it's hypnotic lure. The song ends as a dusty acoustic guitar enters the fray, and the rest of the track slowly melts away, leaving just the steel string ringing out into the abyss. The other tracks on the album are fantastic as well - "Bois-tu de la biere?" features Casino's spacey, modulated vocals floating around the track as a man vocalizing softly over another strung-out drone, creating a bizarre, otherworldly, yet strangely serene and calming atmosphere. Closer "Bon Voyage au LSD" starts of with a ghostly, ominous ambience that steadily builds as odd stereo effects are littered around the track and Casino's haunting, beautiful voice rings over angulated, spasmodic guitar outbursts that builds into the trademark noisy and psychedelic guitar wailing before changing in tempo and turning into a noisy acid drenched, heavy psych jam.

This is a fantastic Acid Mothers Temple album, and one of the most beautifully hypnotic - this thing just washes over you like a psychedelic haze. One of the best starting places for those wanting more of Acid Mothers Temple's more drone oriented work, and one of my favorite albums from one of the best bands of the 21st century

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