VIBRAVOID – The Clocks That Time Forgot (2022, LP/CD Stoned Karma Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Stoned Karma Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Random Colored Vinyl

Format: CD, Album

Release Date: May/June 2022

The always busy mynd of “The unstoppable ACID-PSYCH Machine” – which translates/refers to VIBRAVOID – and after “Zeitgeist Generator” (released just 3 months ago), Dr. Koch throws in the market 2 new albums with original material! Well, it seems that musically and lyrically speaking, inspiration is a very close friend to the Doktor (aka Christian Koch). Of course, we have to “blame” the troubled times we are living these days that gave “food” to the restless Doktor to create another brilliant set of PSYCH songs and released them in 2 different albums. Both albums were recorded months apart from each other and you have (also) to blame the crazy over-productive-vinyl days that we are living, for an almost simultaneous release of both albums! So, what we have here is 2 Vibravoid albums, released at the same time, 2 albums that sound so similar between them but at the same time so different! Generally speaking about “A Sparkle In The Twilight” and “The Clocks That Time Forget”, Christian is using that formula that he discovered, that Psych Formula where he can make the Acid Sound more admissible in the ears, and by the way he used it with great success on his previous “Zeitgeist Generator” LP, but the new thing here is that the well-known Vibravoid Wall of Sound (and from now on I will refer to this as VWoS) became bigger, taller… You see, all 19 songs, on both albums, are amazingly surrounded by a dazzling shimmering compact wall of sound that is built with electric guitars and tons of fuzz pedals!

In this review, we’re going to deal with “The Clocks That Time Forget”. (Check the previous post in order to read the review for the album “A Sparkle In The Twilight”…)

The album takes off with the self-titled track “The Clocks That Time Forget”, and all of a sudden you’re flooded with a feeling of “Let’s get outside the club” (you have to read the “Sparkle In The Twilight” review to understand the point of my thinking). So, let’s go to the fields, set a stage, and play our music for the people, the free people, all the people… “The Clocks That Time Forget” is a very powerful tune, full of energy, while the recognizable by now VWoS, rises before us, in full glory, with a strong guitar melody and up-to-date lyrics, lyrics acting as food for thought! “Do You Remember That Day” is a very “sweet” tune, a Pop-Sike-a-Delic one that makes you wanna reminisce a moment, a feeling, a smell, a touch, a memory… A quite addictive song, thanks to the catchy melody, and the necessary “Acid” effects, of course! “One Armed Clock” follows, a song with incredible lyrics like “It is written in sand and only time will tell – it is taking our hearts and then our breaths away with the crippled hand of a one-armed clock”, and a fantastic guitar solo! With “Phantom Of Thought”, the band makes a huge dive into the Neo-Psychedelic sound of the mid-80s, super cool! “There Is No Cure” starts and instantly a million acid bubbling effects are hitting the clock of doom, this is another remarkable pop-sike-a-delic Vibra tune… Side ‘B’ opens with “Dead Birds Don’t Sing” and I do not know what to admire first, the music or the lyrics? “I have to apologize. I cannot explain. But if I summarize I have to complain”… Lyrics like these are written by the Doktor in order to dress the MAGNIFICENT sound in here which can simply be described as Acid Pop Electro Experimental madness, and the funny thing is that this is made with guitars only – No electro instruments are used – and the result is pretty amazing if you think that this is nothing else but a “sad” song… The next one may shock some of you, but after all, doesn’t everybody need a shock? A wake-up call? The song is called “You Plaster My Mind (with your Fucking Shit)”… Explicit lyrics, yes, but who cares? This song describes the times we’re experiencing, in the best way! The music moves to the usual Vibra sound, rough, acidly drenched, electric guitar-based with mind-bending sound effects while the Fuzz flows unceasingly… This is why the lyrics are important to a song… Let me explain… Without lyrics, this one is just a typical Vibra song, but with the lyrics, this is a Social Cry of our times! The next one is called “Broken Clockworks”, the tight, massive wall of sound is here, standing there in its full glory, and I will write it once more so you can start slowly-slowly to consolidate it. This is called the VWoS! Further, we have these ultra-melodic lyrics with a Poppy tinge, which I’m afraid are not capable to hide this enormous gigantic sound wall… A very depressive but very true, anthem… Eventually, the album comes to an end with “The Smell Of Pestilence”, a very “different” track, slow with some kind of a torturous psych-soundscape, deeply psychedelic-effected, sounds like a mourning, a funereal tune, buried under a huge amount of Psych-o-active effects, creating an unbelievable dark, acid, and cold atmosphere, that only lasts for 3:49min… “the world is sold to the highest bidder”… I could be listening to this for hours! So, “The Clocks That Time Forget” is a much stronger album, a much more complex album, an album that reflects in the most proper psychedelic way the bad and sad and weird times of our days! Musically is dressed with the most Poppy edge of Psychedelic music, even if the Doktor tried to make these songs sound “poppy” and “catchy” – which he succeeded in a way – well, it is inevitable, he cannot run away from Psychedelic music after all Psychedelia is a substance that runs in large amounts in The Doktor’s veins… TimeLord Michalis

Also, the Doktor has a new album ready! It’s called “The Presidents Of The Poison Air”. So, you’re advised to watch out for this space, you’ll be the first to learn more info!

Tracklist

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