Review by Sonny for Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (2011)

Dead Roots Stirring is one of those albums that has been on my radar for seemingly ages yet, for some reason, I haven't managed to get round to it until now. Firstly and to get it out of the way, I agree with Daniel that this is in no way a metal album, but don't necessarily let that put you off because despite that it is still damn heavy all the same. I would say it is firmly rooted in the classic heavy psych albums of the late sixties and early seventies from the likes of Captain Beyond, Sir Lord Baltimore and High Tide, yet with modern production values that tone down that warm, fuzzy seventies sound and replace it with a precision and clarity (albeit still heavy on the fuzz-pedal) that maybe requires a greater technical ability from the modern psych practitioner.

Most of the tracks have a real groovy stoner vibe going on with some nice bluesy melodies and usually end up with an extended psych-inflected instrumental jam that never sounds meandering or aimless, but always maintains focus. It is these jams where the band seem most at home, yet despite this I think they also recognise that people often have trouble relating to purely instrumental music and so every track contains, at least at some point, a vocal section or two. The vocals aren't exactly stellar, but they aren't by any means awful and the verses often have some decent seventies-sounding hooks - the lead-in to the title track, for example, even though I know it hasn't, feels like it's been around for years.

Drummer Matthew Couto is all over proceedings like an acid-fuelled octopus and he kind of reminds me a bit of Ufomammut's drummer, Vita. The real focus of the band however is vocalist and guitarist Nicholas DiSalvo who just seems to "get" how to play heavy psychedelic music. He allows the jams to grow organically and never feels like he is losing his way (the cardinal sin of far too many psych exponents), weaving the songs' melodies into the extended solos in such a way that any given track's main theme is kept towards the fore and maintains a constant and connecting thread throughout each track. His soloing is inspired and remains interesting throughout the album's entire fifty minutes runtime so solo-fatigue never even gets close to settling onto the listener.

I feel the high quality of the first two tracks, the superb Gemini and Dead Roots Stirring, does drop off just a little over the next two, III and The End, but closer Knot is right back up there again in trip-happy-heaven. So, OK, while Dead Roots Stirring is possibly not even really qualified to be on Metal Academy, if you love heavy stoner vibes and feel like losing yourself in the musical adventures of a highly-skilled band of modern groovsters then, as they say, turn on, tune in and drop out to the Dead Roots Stirring.