### Arc Of Ascent: Circle of the sun

#### 27/05/10 || Butt-Beard

Being a fan of stoner (music not people) means you have to wade through a lot of crap. Every Tom, Dick, and the rest of their reefer smoking friends start a band and play Kyuss covers disguised as original songs. Now that I’m done with my rant about the state of the genre, it is time for the shining ray of hope. Arc Of Ascent are the shit. This is probably the best piece of music ever recorded in New Zealand. This is as psychedelic as it gets without sacrificing heaviness.

First off there’s the production, clear as a sunny New Zealand day. Everything is audible, from the growling, overdriven bass, to the awesome drums and guitars. There’s another thing about this record, this has to be my favorite drum production of all time. Everything is organic but still sits nicely in the mix and cuts through like a knife.

The artwork is pretty cool too. It’s some big, purple, cosmic, eruption with Egyptian heads sticking out. Not much in the booklet though, I was hoping for at least lyrics. Pretty cool layout though, the cosmic theme is continued from the cover and there’s some cool fractal art.

These guys know how to write songs too. There’s not a single point in the record where any one instrument is center stage, everyone is playing with each other or around each other. It’s almost like a jazz record in that way. Pretty cool stuff. Now don’t let that mention of jazz turn you off. Trust me, these guys can get downright dirty and nasty with the songs. Just listen to “Absolution In Light”. Easily one of the catchiest tunes in stoner, this is one of the albums shorter songs at 6:14 and damn does it groove.

Maybe the best example of Arc Of Ascent is on “Master Of Serpents” (pretty black metal title too). Everything this band projects musically can be found all in this one track, big churning riffs, vocals that soar and hypnotic repetition that keeps the song turning and evolving. That’s the thing about this record, it’s long but the songs are so damn groovy. This trio keeps the tracks interesting and the band’s song arrangements are rich in classic rock atmosphere. That might sound predictable but this band has all those qualities that set those 70’s rock gods apart from a lot of this modern crap. Arc Of Ascent’s debut is a perfect blend psychedelia with heavy as fuck riffs. I don’t know if this is one-time project or a band that will continue to make more albums but judging by the massive sounds, great jams and the overall professional results of this recording, I hope these guys go for the cosmic run.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Astral Projection
- Website: Arc Of Ascent MySpace
- Band
- Craig Williamson: bass, vocals, all other instruments
- Matt Cole-Baker: guitar
- John Strange: drums, percussion

- Tracklist
- 01. Universal Form
- 02. Cosmic Eye
- 03. The Inner Sign
- 04. Absolution in Light
- 05. Godhead
- 06. Master of the Serpents