reviews / 2015

FÖLLAKZOID - III

Name: FÖLLAKZOID – III
Item: III
Rating: 5.5
Author: Francesco Nunziata

2015 (Sacred Bones Records)

kraut-rock, psychedelia, space rock

by Francesco Nunziata

5.5

Eager to expand the palette of their sound, Föllakzoid enlisted the help of Uwe Schmidt (aka Atom™) for the mixing stage, who used his experience to enrich the synth parts. As for the structure of the tracks, though, not much has changed - quite the opposite!

Right from the first movement, in fact, the three Chileans dive headlong into showcasing their most pronounced influences (kraut-rock and space-rock), generating a sonic flow that, cruising along autobahn motorik rhythms, ends up looking like just another excursion among echoes of Neu! (certainly their most important reference point), Pink Floyd shades or Can-like hypnosis.

Pretty much everywhere, you can make out barely sketched melodies emerging through the folds of what is, in the end, a single sonic trip, one that also harbors reverb-drenched vocals, guitar phrases echoing from who knows what cosmic depths, and a sense of rhythm that pushes toward shamanic trajectories, while seeming to take on a funk tinge (just listen, for example, to "Earth").

More meditative, "Piure" runs past the twelve-minute mark, while "Feuerzeug" (the shortest track, though it still clocks in at nine minutes), with its tremolo-laden dynamics, closes out on almost trance-like ground.

Left to play in the background, the record is far from unpleasant. However, a more discerning ear won't be able to help getting bored by the second listen...

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15/04/2015

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Francesco Nunziata, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition