Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Motorpsycho: Heavy Metal Fruit

467

Motorpsycho: Heavy Metal Fruit

By

View read count
Motorpsycho: Heavy Metal Fruit
Together for two decades, indie/prog rock trio Motorpsycho has gradually built an audience outside its native Norway, though the group remains a better draw in Europe than in North America. That's a situation that, by all rights, should change with Heavy Metal Fruit, a combination of metal-tinged prog, space-rock jams, and passages of reckless abandon, all delivered through epic writing, thunderous grooves, and layered guitars.



Founding members Bent Sæther (bass) and Hans Magnus Ryan (guitar) are joined, once again, by drummer Kenneth Kapstad, back from 2008's Little Lucid Moments, the trio's first for the intrepid Rune Grammofon label. The formula—if it can be called that—remains: lengthy, episodic tracks rock hard and loud, but there's a surprising depth to the writing, largely from Sæther alone or in collaboration with Ryan. Sequenced to run together uninterrupted, the set ranges from the head-banging pulse of "Starhammer" to the up-tempo rocker "X-3 (Knuckleheads in Space) / The Getaway Special)," the second half of which drops into a slightly funky exchange between Ryan and guest trumpeter Mathias Eick—of The Door (ECM, 2008) and Jaga Jazzist fame—building to a dense climax propelled by Sæther's potent, bass chord-driven groove.



While instrumentals define Motorpsycho, its vocals are equally compelling. The subject matter may be straight from outer space (an ongoing theme), but while none of the three members of the group have what could be called exceptional voices, together in harmony they create a sound all their own. The thundering riff that drives "The Bomb-Proof Roll and Beyond (for Arnie Hassle)" sets up a round that's not unlike progressive rock bastion Yes, but only if it were far more guitar-heavy and with grounded rather than celestial voices. And the middle section—a combination of ethereal texture and relentless, feedback-driven maelstrom—takes some of early Pink Floyd's psychedelic excursions to the next logical step.



The trio also knows how to pace itself. "Close Your Eyes," which comes half-way through the hour-long set, is driven by guest keyboardist Kåre Chr. Vestrheim's piano, a calm before the emerging storm of "W.B.A.T.," which builds from nothing to pulsing, riff-driven funk that's a throwback to Deep Purple's In Rock (Warner Bros., 1970), though Ryan's tone is grungier than Ritchie Blackmore's ever was.



But it's the 20-minute, four-part "Gullible's Travels" suite that's Motorpsycho's greatest achievement to date. This isn't the first extended piece the group has tackled, but "Gullible" is certainly its most ambitious. From pounding grooves and delicate acoustics to an irregular-metered middle section where guitars and keys carefully build an intensely visual orchestration, viscerally resolving into a hauntingly melodic climax that dissolves into an atmospheric coda, this is Motorpsycho's definitive, classic epic.



With plenty of cross-over appeal between metal and prog heads, Heavy Metal Fruit is Motorpsycho's most fully realized album to date, a compelling blend of hard rock, space rock, prog rock, and the je ne sais quoi that's defined the group since the very beginning.

Track Listing

Starhammer (feat. The Electric Psalmon); X-3 (Knuckleheads in Space) / The Getaway Special); The Bomb-Proof Roll and Beyond (for Arnie Hassle); Close Your Eyes; W.B.A.T.; Gullible's Travels (Pt I--IV): Eye All-Seeing, The Elementhaler, Circle, Phoot's Flower (A Burly Return).

Personnel

Kenneth Kapstad: drums, vocals; Hans Magnus Ryan: guitar, vocals; Bent Sæther: bass, vocals; Kåre Chr. Vestrheim: keyboards; Hanne Hukkelberg: vocals (2, 4, 5); Mathias Eick: trumpet (2).

Album information

Title: Heavy Metal Fruit | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Rune Grammofon

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.