Swervedriver
Mezcal Head

THE REVIEW

"Mezcal Head" second album by Swervedriver is like a glider in flight that can't land. It's been flying since 1993 but is still up there, always driven by new favorable winds. It's music I still listen to today, thanks to the absolute beauty of their best tracks.

The most attentive followers consider this their best work, to the detriment of the first "Raise" (still exceptional). "Mezcal Head" comes out in the same years as the debut of Catherine Wheel and therefore feels the hard contamination of shoegaze that the Catherine Wheel brought, effectively closing the first phase of shoegaze and changing it forever (for the better). The work of hard contamination of shoegaze was done in parallel by the two bands. In this work, Swervedriver paid a higher tribute to sixties sounds, while the Catherine Wheel remained more tied to more orthodox metal sounds. Both groups are nonetheless fundamental to interpret today.

And now to the album: it opens with "For seeking heat" which is the calling card of the new shoe. Definitely hard, although the rest of the album will betray this first impression as Mezcal's flight is much broader and overlooks various musical lands. Second comes "Duel", a true cult piece for those who love shoegaze, here the sixties sounds explode in all their evidence but stretched and elongated to the extreme, the moog gives it a touch of class, a masterpiece. Third "Blowin Cool" and the band returns to the sounds of Raise, certain that the ideas are much clearer, the atmosphere is less improvised, and the guitar riffs are once again harder, beautiful. Fourth "MM Abduction" and the band takes a break before the final ride, it's the piece where the use of the lead guitar directly connects Sweverdriver and "Catherine Wheel". Fifth "Last Train to Satanville", another recognized masterpiece, and the race towards the end of the album begins, a race that will not be interrupted. Long piece and again stretched to the incredible, walls of guitars more hard than shoe.

The band intuits the need to lengthen the pieces and makes it their own. And prepares us for the grand finale. Sixth "Harry and Maggie", a fearsome guitar attack, then again sixties stretched. It remains among their best pieces. Pausing for reflection, but could it be that this sixties recall also brings another name? Of course, Swervedriver is psychedelic! There are strong sixties echoes, of course, but of the psychedelic period 1968/1970. Seventh, and we are at the collector's items, "A change is gonna come", the Swerve become the prophets of themselves and announce the change. Here psychedelia is at its highest levels, sixties and hard embrace. Another masterpiece. Eighth "Girl on a Motorbike" and you start thinking about miracles. The album remains at very high levels, and the piece becomes another classic of the group. Three pieces are missing, and on the ninth "Duress" the Swerve teaches us what psychedelia applied to music is. Very long piece and 40% instrumental with the wah-wah hinting at the melody. Pure psychedelia and then comes Franklin's voice, and I hope you are all still there to listen. It's Wah-wah along with Franklin's lament. Here Swervedriver flies in the true sense of the word, and I with them. Ten "You find it Everywhere", is the Swerve's feint before the final KO. Eleven and "Never lose that Feeling" arrives, an authentic manifesto, a very long piece with several phases, almost progressive, it is the final synthesis. After the first phase, incredible but true, the instrumental part arrives, and here the perception of the miracle really becomes strong. The sax comes in (damn how I like it), and I find myself in lo-fi. Syncopated rhythm with the sax that literally flies. Hard guitars that come in. Franklin's voice will no longer return. He has already said everything, "So deceiving, Never lose that feeling".

So deceiving, never lose that feeling. Friend Franklin, you can be sure I won't lose it. And have you lost it?

Alex