Comets on Fire

Avatar

(Sub Pop)

Record Review by Alexis Roberts

I can’t decide if this band totally rocks or if they were straight up tripping on acid when they recorded Avatar. Actually, I know they weren’t tripping because they stated in a recent interview that they no longer experiment with hallucinogenic drugs, but this CD will make one question that claim. Avatar—meaning either a God’s decent to the earth (in the Hindu religion), or the image next to your screen name on a message board (in the computer religion)—cannot best be summed up in a mere matter of words due to the fact that there aren’t enough words in the English language to explain what exactly is going on while this CD is playing. I was still trying to figure out what had just happened after I listened to it. It’s psychedelic, to say the least, although I hate to stamp them with the same label that bands like The Mars Volta and Tool have, because they are simply nothing like those bands.

There has been hype about Comets on Fire for some time seeing as how they have released a significant number of split CD/EPs, singles and a full length prior to this one. There is just cause for this hype, however. Avatar is not only a kind of a throwback to serious classic rock (they’ve admitted to be influenced by Pink Floyd, Hendrix, etc.) but it’s also very jazzy and pretty sweet to be completely honest, but, as long as I am being honest, I’d have to call it one of those albums that “grows on you.”

After opening track “Dogwood Rust” gives you a feel for what the rest of the disc is going to be all about, and you get used to their lengthy song structure, you kind of get into a groove and suddenly you wish you owned a pair of bellbottoms and a fringed vest. “Sour Smoke,” the second to last song, is 8:47 of perfection, rocking like you wouldn’t believe. With the steady handclap and the same drum beat for the song’s entirety, you just flat out get into it. Throughout, the guitar and the organ kind of take each other on in a dueling banjo-esque type of friendly competition.

Let Avatar play a few times before you form an opinion. Regardless of whether it’s your thing or not, it’s undeniable that Comets on Fire are a talented and innovative group of dudes just playing what they think music needs to sound like, which is their best feature. They aren’t afraid to experiment with new and old techniques in the studio. Just ask them about their Echoplexes, oscillators and Moogs.