Album Review: Lazersleep – Gravity

Band: Lazersleep | Album: Gravity | Genre: Heavy psych, Space rock | Year: 2025

From: Helsinki, Finland | Label: Independent 

For fans of: Elder, Pink Floyd

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Lazersleep is a band that wholeheartedly embraces textures and sonic effects as practically instruments unto themselves. They play a variety of psychedelia awash in phasers, flangers, wahs, and more, all in service of building up powerful atmospheres. The band describes their own music as “a psychedelic delay-bath,” and the lush soundscapes on this record even prompted them to tag this record with the confusing-but-fitting term “heavy nap.” Gravity is their debut record, and it is an impressive first statement.

“Bath” immediately establishes the band’s tonal modus operandi. Echoing guitar chords fill the auditory space with shimmering ripples. The vocals are distant and dreamy, and the drumbeat is understated but effective. Even in this atmosphere of vague shapes, occasional sharp guitar embellishments (still drenched in delay, mind you) give the listener something firmer to grab onto.

The combination of a nearly-krautrock-like beat and Gilmourian soloing paints a broad and uplifting skyscape. In this opening epic’s second half, the band undertakes more exciting instrumental excursions. Bubbly, wobbly synthesizers provide some sci-fi textures as the guitars shift to high-energy, semi-metallic shredding. The rhythm section grows more muscular, as well, aggressively pushing this song into the stratosphere.

Jazzy, tribal drumming kicks off “Hot Stones”. The mood is meditative, with palm-muted guitars and mantralike, multilayered vocals. The band provides plenty of asides, with indie-influenced guitar licks and an enthralling ebb and flow.

“Pond” has a jangly, slow-build opening, but when the full band joins it, it’s a propulsive, hard-rocking cut. I’ve been trying to avoid name-dropping Elder, since they are this band’s closest analog, but if you’re looking for Elder with the metal elements turned down, cuts like this are a prime example. This song is punchy, energetic, and the least-abstract music on the record, but the band’s focus is still heavily on texture and atmosphere. I love the way the band busts out some angelic backing vocals in the second half, and the song concludes on yet another searing, psychedelic onslaught.

Gravity closes with its 25-minute title track. After a bit of drone, twangy, acidic guitar jumps to the fore as synths, bass, and percussion build behind it. This opening passage (titled “Chapter III”) reminds me of some of WEEED’s psych-Americana, evoking dusty trails and desert landscapes. When the vocals emerge, they’re even more distant than usual, but things pick up the pace quickly. As if drawn on by that titular gravity, the rhythm speeds up, and a jittery guitar solo pushes things along. Some of this instrumental jamming almost reminds me of an updated version of some of Quicksilver Messenger Service’s live work. Lazersleep alternates between painting with broad strokes and tight, proggy licks with ease.

From this point, the song shifts to an extended instrumental passage, where the mood is lighter and more ascendant. Guitar lines soar over a galloping rhythm. It’s sunny and triumphant, but the band expertly takes a hairpin turn into some mucky sludge metal. The guitar is thick and nasty, and the underlying gritty bluesiness is a great contrast to all the high-flying psychedelia the band has indulged in up to this point.

Now, 14 minutes into its runtime, the song shifts into its second movement (titled “Chapter I”). The mood here is more contemplative. Jittery guitars drift upward like embers as heavier bass notes ascend more slowly. These tight and nervous riffs swirl hypnotically, complementing the quiet vocals. The intensity gradually builds here, however, incorporating metallic palm-muted riffs to pump things up.

The closing passage (“Chapter II”) is the most consistently metallic part of the record. High-energy riffs that feel like Judas Priest run through a Hawkwind filter push the song along. There’s a triumphal feel, and synth and bass each get some time in the spotlight. Storm clouds arrive, however, with the riffs taking a decided minor-key turn, augmented by brooding synth tones. Those clouds are swept away in the final two minutes, culminating in a glorious climax and finale.

Lazersleep’s debut record is an incredible accomplishment. The four compositions present here soar and swing about fluidly. Every twist the band incorporates makes sense and only furthers their musical mission. The textures–one of the main foci of Gravity–are both internally diverse and completely consistent. If you’re looking for exciting and engrossing psychedelia, look no further.

Score: 95/100