I traded the desert for outer space, the sand that burned beneath my nails for stardust, the blues born from the red sun for the stoner of a black hole. I fractured the line that separated the sky and the earth, to recompose it with a splint of silicon and electric cables: the horizon is no longer my destination, but my launchpad.

Now I ride the Turbo Elephant and my destination is the cosmic plains. The pachyderm is doped with mescaline and distillery rocket fuel, but it holds the course well and I’m not afraid. I launch the animal on a path of broken heart shards, sliding on a neon rainbow that only appears when it rains acid. On the back seat, clinging to my hips to avoid falling off, chaos has the features of a woman named Folgore: the solar titans, Quincy the Pig Boy, and the Lord of the Hornets await us.

All around me will be The Big Black (2000): the “soul of the ancient stoner race”, omnipotent presence, sublime power. A cosmic aggregation, a primordial soup of shameless Sabbath reminiscences (“Hot Magic, Red Placet”, and all the others), appearances of raucous wah wahs (“Scorpionica”) and raw and naked Doom, oppressive and suffocating (“The Big Black”). Big bang of rocky distortions, southern guitars launched two hundred light-years an hour (“Turbo Effalunt”) and cosmic peace of dreamy and visionary interludes, wanderings and staggering like a drunk among desolate, hypnotic, desert-astral scenarios (“Cozmo Bozo”, “You’ll Never Get To The Moon In That”).

The result is a splendid and highly successful hybrid of the diverse personalities of the London quintet-quartet: less psychedelic and effect-laden than the debut “Frequencies From The Planet Ten” of ‘97, less biker-like than the previous “Time Travelling Blues” of '98, less metal than the subsequent “Coupe De Grace” of ‘02. Between Kyuss, Cathedral, and Nebula, but with a certain party attitude. Well played and well produced by Billy Anderson. With the blessing of John Garcia.

“God's on my side, baby

But the Devil calls my tunes

And I've been feeling lately

This whole universe is doomed”

 

Tracklist Lyrics and Videos

01   Scorpionica (03:16)

My god rises at daybreak
My goddess goes down on me at dawn
Hallucinate what is on the horizon
Scorpionica, she is born

My brain sings revolution
She sends life to the heart of the sun
Hallucinate what the sunrise is hiding
Scorpionica has begun

And as the sun burns on
And takes my soul away
The solar titan rises
And lives to shine another day

I got burnt for my madness
She got high on the heart of my soul
Sonic titans are riding the sunrise
Scorpionica, she is born

02   Quincy the Pigboy (03:57)

Yeah, that little fucker, he's racin' for the sun
He's got a bottle of Jack and he's getting drunk
He's smokin' lines in a joint just to ease his pain
He's takin' pills just to get back down again
Get back down again

Yeah, he's gettin' kicks on the highway 666
He killed his mother 'cos she would not suck his dick
With all the drugs he's a time bomb set to blow
He's shootin' up just to let that feeling go
Let that feeling go

03   Hot Magic, Red Planet (03:54)

Light the fire, take me higher
Sell my soul for what it's worth
Set the course right, into the night
Far behind us, planet Earth

Strange affliction, drug addiction
Too many people, too many cars
Mind destruction, soul abduction
Build a new home in the stars

Celestial chaos and madness
Causing temples to fall into space
Planets collide in a daydream
Giving birth to an alien race

Send the kids to the stars for our future
It's the way that religion has planned
Television and science control us
And the drugs help us all understand

Light the fire, take me higher
Sell my soul for what it's worth
Set the course right, into the night
Far behind us, planet Earth

04   Cozmo Bozo (06:00)

If mine is yours, baby, and yours is mine Then why is yours always so hard to find A king of men and a queen of whores You've built your empire on all fours You give me sorrow in return for love Bring me down from what I'm dreaming of The lights are on but there's nobody home Selling my soul just to be alone Singin' a song that should bring it all back to you Doing the things that you said you'd never do Riding the nights, left the good times far behind Looking to you for the things I'll never find I don't need comfort or your sympathy I don't want pity or an easy lay I want the sun, the moon, the stars and all I need your loving and some alcohol

05   298 Kg (03:56)

I've seen your illusions, just like you've seen my desires
There has got to be much more burnin' in tomorrow's fires
I just sip the potion, hope it takes my blues away
So I just keep on rollin', 'til I find a brighter day

I see your sun is shinin', heavens smilin'
There's never been a way for me to say
I've got to find the feelin', start believin'
There's got to be a way for me to say that I know

If a blind man sees tomorrow, like a deaf man hears the sun
Then we must choose if we were born to lose, or if we're the chosen one
I can't find the feeling, that'll take my blues away
So I just keep on rollin', 'til I find a brighter day

I see your sun is shinin', heavens smilin'
There's never been a way for me to say
I've got to find the feelin', start believin'
There's got to be a way for me to say that I know

A blind man sees tomorrow, like a deaf man hears the sun
We must choose if we were born to lose, or if we're the chosen one

06   Turbo Effalunt (Elephant) (03:35)

A million miles an hour, with an overloaded mind
Ridin' on an asteroid into a different space in time
Satellites of madness are building mushrooms in the sky
Through a magic universe, into the neon light

It's a lonely ride

Fly on through a mountain like a rocket to my brain
Watch the turbo elephants go around the sun again
Catch the shooting shar that's heading straight towards the door
Take it while I've got it 'cos you won't see me no more

It's a lonely ride

Woman, didn't I say I didn't want you in my head
Oh woman, said I only wanted you to stay in my bed
'Cos maybe, if we stick together we'll find our own way home
'Cos oh baby, that's the best damn journey that I've ever grown

It's a lonely ride

07   King of the Hornets (05:15)

08   You’ll Never Get to the Moon in That (04:23)

09   Alcofuel (02:25)

I'll fly this sucker, baby I've got seven stars that guide my fortune I'll take us far away To the planet I built for you on a mountain No need to breathe again I've got a nuclear heart and it's overloading I'll never drink again Just like I told you blue snow would fall, I'm joking I've got one last chance to try and ease my pain But I'm sinking to the bottom of the bottle again 'Cos I'm all dried up and it's hard to choose If I'm burning out on fairytales or booze

10   The Big Black (11:52)

Bypassing history, travelling time
Omnipotent presence, the power sublime
True path of wisdom, stoner doom grows
Where Big Black came from, the Lightbringer knows

Traversing the cosmos with stars as its eyes
Crushing the galaxy, nebulas die
A nova erupts its soul into space
The Big Black's the soul of the old stoner race

The end of all things is approaching us soon
Destruction brought on by the legions of doom
Damnation eternal for men of poor thought
The Big Black's the force that the wizards once sought

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