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Rating: If we were to represent the stoner canon as an imaginary Hindu trimurti, the role of Brahma (demiurge and creator of the Universe) would undeniably go to the fathers, Kyuss, while Vishnu (the preserver) could be claimed by Sleep, monolithic continuers of the 80s Doom cult. The figure of Shiva, fascinating in his role as the destroyer of the Universe, embodiment of tamas that will absorb the world's energies at the time of its end, fits like a glove to Monster Magnet. And even more so to their unchallenged leader Dave Wyndorf, luciferian foil and rotten counterpart to John Garcia.
It's difficult to choose a single title that exemplifies and encapsulates the Magnet's approach to what would later be called "stoner." If "25...Tab" opens glimpses into liquid psychotic abysses, the triptych (incidentally another trimurti) "Spine Of God"/"Superjudge"/"Dopes To Infinity" canonizes their sound, with nods to the '70s Sabbath but especially to a hard psychedelia rooted in the '60s, its trunk in the freak choices of early Hawkwind and its branches brushing the grunge sounds of the '90s.
Perhaps it is precisely "Spine Of God", a varied journey between bare-knuckle assaults, bong smokes, and psychedelic deliriums tinged with sulfur, that best captures the young Magnet probably at the height of their creative vein, light years away from today's meek posers. Mc Bain and Wyndorf battle for the guitar spotlight, staging an unhealthy fight between monolithic riffs ("Pill Shovel") and psychedelic ballads ("Zodiac Lung"). Nor are the references to the Detroit rock of Stooges/MC5 (a true cult for Wyndorf), particularly evident in "Medicine", and a cover of Grand Funk Railroad, "Sin's A Good Man's Brother", missing. However, the tracks with the highest lysergic content remain the best: the title track, with its slow march, traversed by filtered sitars and shaken by electric spasms, while Wyndorf declaims wildly; "Black Mastermind", a sonic assault that passes the baton from Sabbath to Lemmy and his Hawkwind without ceasing to run; "Ozium", a strange coda based on organ and almost Californian melodies.
Don’t be alarmed if listening to the small masterpiece that is "Nod Scene", a sublime alternation between granite riffs, pools of acid, and an ever more doped Wyndorf, gives you an insane urge to use psychotropic substances (whether you are a habitual consumer or not). The answer lies in the liner notes of the album:
"It’s a satanic drug thing... you wouldn’t understand"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Medicine (03:21)
Place the stones in a circle of twelve
Give my night to brother of the bell
Rise from the light
That swallows me whole
Dig yourself
Dig yourself
Sun comes up
One great day
Foil of the cobra
Dries the sweat off my face
Righteous meek
Righteous brown
Yeah
Dig yourself, baby
Dig yourself, baby
Down that medicine now
Yeah baby
Down that medicine now
My my my baby
Down that medicine now
Yeah baby
Down that medicine now
Yeah baby
Bloods' got soul
Invade the town
Your loves got lazy
Took the world from behind
Life is sweet
As sweet as hell
Dig yourself, baby
Dig yourself, baby
Alright
Down that medicine now
Yeah baby
Down that medicine now
My my my baby
Down that medicine now
Yeah baby
Down that medicine now
oh, baby
Make no mistake
Your violation will be televised
Muds got soul
Muds got soul
Muds got soul
03 Nod Scene (06:47)
Bought another copy of fragile
Seeds were bustin' up the spine
I think I cracked my skull doin' airplanes
Not too many but it's just fine
Pussy scratching sniff in a playboy
Christ i'm a good looking man
Fifteen miles to cop on a stingrays
Boys will gonna ride tonight
Goofball's in the 70's nipples
Gotta get our heads just right
Sit me on the lap of the god's babe
Cover me with skin and hair
Bought another copy of zoso
Seeds were bustin' up the spine
I think i wet my pants doin' whiphits
Not too many but it's just fine
Sit me on the lap of the god's babe
Cover me with skin and hair
Ride a number one on the home train
Screw you if you think i can't ......... smoke
05 Zodiac Lung (04:44)
The shape of a zodiac lung
Is beckoning like a bad christ
It hovers above your head
It's pulling the world over my life
If you don't hear a word I'm saying
You can't cover it with your hair
You can't hide it in your army coat
You've got the miltown demon stare
You forgot all the letters that you wrote
You can't hear a word I'm saying
No you can't hear a thing at all
When I die, it'll be because of you
There I'll lie and it'll all point to you
It's fuck ups like you that always seem to take it all
It's fuck ups like you that never seem to go away
The shape of the zodiac lung
Is like the shape of the back of my hand
And I'll knock you across this room
And I'll bury my head in the sand
You won't feel my love type baby
No you won't feel a thing at all
When I die it'll be because of you
There i'll lie and it'll all point to you
It's fuck ups like you that always seem to get it all
It's fuck ups like you that never seem to die
I don't know why
07 Snake Dance (03:10)
Earspot in a cornfield
We got a girl in an army coat
Pull up the Gran Turino
And play some music for the holy ghost
Go go go
Yeah baby smoke them bones
Praise me the Bullgod
She got fleas stuck all over her skin
Take a dive in the nose bleed
And let the snake dance begin
She licked a sheet of water
Now she's breathing through her teeth
Hissing like a snake with tits and
Squirming up to me
Go go go
Yeah baby smoke them bones
Go go go
I'm so fucking stoned
If Satan lived in Heaven he'd be me
And acid dirty doves and stupid sheep
That bone did triple I can make you see
Rub that naked belly up to me
Go go go
Yeah baby smoke them bones
Go go go
I'm so fucking stoned
If Satan lived in Heaven he'd be me
And acid dirty doves and stupid sheep
That bone did triple, I can make you see
Rub that naked belly up to me
Up to me yeah
Up to me
Up to me, yeah
Up to me
08 Sin's a Good Man's Brother (03:31)
Ain't seen a night,
things work out right, go by
Things on my mind,
and I just don't have the time,
and it don't seem right
Ain't seen a day,
that I don't hear people say,
they know they're gonna die
This may seem a little bit crazy,
but I don't think we should be so lazy
If you think you've heard this before,
well, stick around I'm gonna tell you more
One just like the other,
sin's a good man's brother, but is that right
You tell me that I don't, then I say I won't, but then I might
You said this is the way it's supposed to be,
but it just don't seem right to me, and that's outta' sight
Some folks need an education
don't give up, or we'll loose the nation
You say we need a revolution
It seems to be the only solution
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