Crucible

2019 marks 30 years since Motorpsycho's humble beginnings in Trondheim. Both visually and musically, The Crucible starts where The Tower (2017) ended, but it soon takes on it's own hue, and it is clear that it cannot be called a "sequel" as such: this is very much a step further out than anywhere the band ventured on The Tower. While it is broader lyrically speaking, it is even sharper focused musically and, if possible, even more idiosyncratic and insular than ever: unarguably a Motorpsycho album. There aren't many traditional song structures or pop format platitudes on display, and there is indeed hardly any respect paid to any trad rock song conventions on the whole album, but that's not really what one listens to Motorpsycho for anyway, is it? From the most Neanderthal of rock riffs to the most rhythmically oblique polytonal solo sections they've ever recorded, this album musically seems to sum up the extremes of the band's current interests and concerns. The Crucible was recorded at Monnow Valley Studios in Wales in August 2018 by Hans Magnus Ryan (guitars, vocals), Bent Sæther (bass, vocals, sundry), and Tomas Järmyr (drums), with co-producers Andrew Scheps and Deathprod. Scheps mixed the band's last two live recordings - A Boxful of Demons and Roadwork Vol. 5 (MPLP 302LP) - and in that process, made himself a logical choice to record the next studio album.