Albinö Rhino - Upholder

Self-released

 This excellent Finnish psychedelic stoner doom metal band continues on their second full-length exactly where they finished on their eponymous 2014 debut. The last song of their first album was "Uphold the Light Part 1" and the second album includes just two long tracks, "Uphold the Light Part 2" and "Uphold the Light Part 3". Using just guitar, bass, drums and a little bit of mantra-like vocals this trio creates a hypnotic, sometimes heavy, sometimes atmospheric groove that just takes you away and blows your mind. Looking at their green album covers you get the feeling that they are strongly influenced by the wild but beutiful Finnish nature and there is almost like a spiritual vibe in there as well.

The first, slow track is very repetative and hypnotic and mostly based on just one simple riff, but they make subtle progression and breathe life into it so that things keep interesting. Most of the track is instrumental, and at its heaviest it sounds a bit like Sleep but there is mush more in there as well. Great! Totally instrumental Part 3 is faster going and the addition of Dr. Space from Øresund Space Collective on spacey analogue synthesizers makes it sound almost like heavy space rock! Well I'm not complaining since this happens to be my favourite music genre if there ever was one. Dr. Space fits in perfectly and makes a whole lot difference making this a very pychedelic track. The motorik guitar/bass/drums stoner groove in itself is already very uplifting and makes you want to boogie. There is also a slower doom part with clear Black Sabbath vibes and I'm loving it. Towards the end they sound more like Kingston Wall which is great as well. Albinö Rhino is definitely one of the best bands in the Finnish psychedelic stoner/doom scene and also worth experiencing live. Try also to find a copy of their very limited edition split LP with Morbid Evils, it kicks ass.



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