Welcome to part two of The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2023. Part one can be found here. Now, let’s get back to it!
Continue reading “Best of 2023: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1”Best of 2023: Top 50 Prog Albums Part 2: 25-1
Tag: kansas city
Album Review: Merlin – Grind House
Band: Merlin | Album: Grind House | Genre: Psychedelic rock, Synthwave, Film score (I guess?) | Year: 2023
From: Kansas City, (MO,) USA | Label: Independent
For fans of: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like Merlin. I’ve covered them a couple times before. The Mortal is a pretty solid stoner metal release with healthy doses of prog and psych, and “Merlin’s Bizarre Adventure” is a mind-bending cavalcade of incongruous musical ideas that somehow gel. I’m also pretty fond of their albums The Wizard and Christ Killer. (The latter is based on Nick Cave’s bonkers idea for a sequel to the film Gladiator; read about it!) In addition to putting out good music, they’ve got one of the best social media presences I’ve run across. Their Facebook page consists of scores of strange, self-deprecating memes that always amuse. (One such meme, posted probably a year ago or so, said something to the effect of of, “Yeah, we’re into NFTs: Not Fucking Touring.” Though Merlin might not tour, I apparently missed an opportunity to see them live early in their career. I lived in Lawrence, KS, from late 2012 until late 2014, and they posted some photos from a show in 2014 they had at The Bottleneck, a live music venue in Lawrence. I went to a good number of live shows while I lived out there, so I am bummed I never happened to see them.)
Moving on to the substance of Grind House, their sixth LP, it’s tough to figure out where to start. Historically, they’ve been a stoner doom band with some artsy leanings. But back in 2020 or 2021, they put out this strange, jazzy single, “Master Thief ‘77”, which presaged the aggressive move away from the stoner doom they championed on “Merlin’s Bizarre Adventure”. In a Facebook exchange I had with the band’s vocalist, Jordan Knorr, he explained Merlin’s next album was going to be based around the theme music to a series of fictional films and that it would be completely different from the band’s prior output. And true to his word, this is a bizarre, unexpected, and very fun release.
Continue reading “Album Review: Merlin – Grind House”Top 50 Prog Albums of 2021, Part 2: 25-1
Welcome to Part 2 of The Elite Extremophile’s Top 50 Prog Albums of 2021. In case you missed Part 1, it can be found here.
Continue reading “Top 50 Prog Albums of 2021, Part 2: 25-1”Album Review: Merlin – The Mortal
Band: Merlin | Album: The Mortal | Genre: Heavy Psych, Stoner metal | Year: 2019
From: Kansas City, (MO,) USA | Label: The Company
For fans of: Elder, Hawkwind, Pink Floyd
Buy: Bandcamp | Big Cartel | Apple Music
Merlin are one of the better examples of progressive stoner metal, and their last few albums have shown a clear musical evolution from dank groovemasters to artistically ambitious dank groovemasters. The saxophone which first appeared on 2018’s The Wizard now is more fully integrated, and with it, an injection of jazz influence. Blues elements are certainly present as well, but they don’t overpower, and many of the sludgy riffs are played with impressive restraint.
The Mortal appears to be something of a follow-up to The Wizard. Beyond their shared use of saxophone and similar titles, both close with an eponymous suite, and both those suites share musical and lyrical themes of magic. Continue reading “Album Review: Merlin – The Mortal”
The Elite Extremophile 