Swamp Ritual

2015 release. Swamp Ritual is a beautiful split album by two Canadian based acts, Uubbuurruu and El Napoleon, that have a close connection and a common love for psychedelic sounds and space rock, despite their different turns on the same thing. It is no miracle that Uubbuurruu front man Joey Napoleon is in both acts. While Uubbuurruu have chosen a rather laid-back and melodic pop psych route, just with slightly more edgy guitars, Joey kicks off into a fuzzed-out acid-punk inferno with El Napoleon. Dark and gloomy garage beat with dirty riffs and even dirtier and simmering hot melodies is the lowest common dominator. This will certainly appeal to all those who still live in the yester-year, some 46 years ago, when beat became rock and songs became twisted, uncontrollable freak-outs due to hordes of proto-punks going nuts on topics like the ongoing Vietnam War or sexual liberation. Although Uubbuurruu may have the more freaked-out name, their music consists of straight compositions with very striking melodies that drag the listener onto a colorful trip. El Napoleon on the other hand work with the same kind of firing harmonies and vocal lines but give them an extra buzz with their guitar eruptions that go further than your average '60s garage rock and reaches spheres of rage only MC5 or The Stooges would have dared to touch. Eastern flavored guitar leads enhance the psychedelic mood to it's maximum. All this is certainly very well played but it might not appeal to fans of clean digital sounds as the earthy and often dirty production is the icing on the cake. Fans of Baby Woodrose, Spids Nögenhat, early Monster Magnet and oldies like The Seeds, The Third Bardo and tons of English pop psych acts like Tomorrow or Apple will enjoy this split album.