Doubt is a crack post-prog-fuse outfit and they are back with a new offering, Mercy, Pity, Peace & Love (Moon June 049). They run the gamut with a set of good vibrations in a neo-psychedelic mode.
The trio is an excellent match: Alex Maguire with right-bright-idea keyboard sounds that go from period rock organ to contemporary cosmos space. Michel Delville is a guitarist of distinction, showing equal portions of chops and taste, spinning lines you might have wished you played yourself. Finally, Tony Bianco is a drummer who does it all right, driving in a blistering way, getting subtle when needed, giving us a kind of clinic on jazz-rock drumming while making up a critical one-third of the band.
There's some riff metal heaviness that sounds great, space music that hearkens back while moving ahead, a bang-up, over-the-top "Purple Haze," down a notch for a lyric interlude, then back at it with hard-hitting space anthems and some electric free playing.
This one has balance and ballsonics. Anyone with the need to take retro-space-age sounds into a new future will find this a good way to begin the journey.
Important and very enjoyable.
