MOTORPSYCHO - The Gaia II Space Corps
2026 (Det nordenfjeldske grammofonselskab)
hard rock, psych-rock
by
Peppe Trotta
6.5
Their return is a certainty, but predicting its shape is another matter. Bent and Snah show no sign of wanting to stop, and right on schedule they put their brand back into circulation with a new release and the usual endless tour. In recent years they've chosen the paths of psych-folk digression ("Yay!"), archival rediscovery ("Neigh!!") and self-referential restart ("Motorpsycho"); for 2026 it's their never-dormant passion for seventies sound and sci-fi imagery that take centre stage. Ingredients drawn in handfuls from an epic past, filtered through the unmistakable Motorpsycho stamp.
"The Gaia II Space Corps" thus returns to the dawn of hard rock, but does so by injecting into that material the shades of the psych vein in which the trio remain undisputed masters, delivering a sound that's decidedly vintage yet never mannered. Yet the unstoppable charge of "Fanny Again, Or" - the album's first single - seems to head straight for bare-faced homage with its Zeppelin-esque riffs, but you only need reach the following "The Great Stash Robbery" to find the lysergic dimension and the gaze once again fixed on the depths of the cosmos. And while "TSMcR" sketches out a lopsided blues, broadening the scope even further, it's with "The Hornet" and "The Oracle" that the gospel of the Psychoverse shines in full.
It falls to Reine Fiske and Olaf Olsen - alongside the ever-present Deathprod behind the mixing desk - to lend the pair a hand on this unusually concise, tightly-wound journey, whose closing track, a cover of Forst's "Black As Night", confirms the plunge into a glorious past, seen through the lens of a duo who never tire of loving music and are asked for nothing more than to keep on being themselves.
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07/03/2026
This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Peppe Trotta, 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.
Tracklist
- 1. Fanny Again, Or
- 2. The Great Stash Robbery
- 3. TSMcR
- 4. The Hornet
- 5. The Gaia ll Space Corps
- 6. The Oracle
- 7. Black As Night
Motorpsycho on OndaRock
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All Reviews on Ondarock
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