Asteroid - III album review

Praise the Lord, pass the skins

Asteroid III album cover

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Despite a switch of drummers, with Jimmi Kohlscheen in place of Elvis Campbell, little else seems to have changed in the world of Sweden’s psyche-jammers Asteroid. Though it’s been six years since the release of their last album, II, the imaginatively titled III rouses itself from the sofa, takes a huge hit from the bong and navigates the politics of consciousness with enormous slabs of monolithic riffing, groove-laden rhythms and Herculean soloing.

Though Asteroid eschew any notions of originality with a sound that harks back to the early 70s, their commitment to wig-outs that never outstay their welcome is to be commended. Witness the gloriously cosmic slide guitar that powers Pale Moon, which locks in with the murderous low-end groove of Johannes Nilsson and Kohlscheen’s drums. Similarly, the primordial licks at the heart of Wolf & Snake and Last Days are comforting in their familiarity. A welcome return.

Julian Marszalek

Julian Marszalek is the former Reviews Editor of The Blues Magazine. He has written about music for Music365, Yahoo! Music, The Quietus, The Guardian, NME and Shindig! among many others. As the Deputy Online News Editor at Xfm he revealed exclusively that Nick Cave’s second novel was on the way. During his two-decade career, he’s interviewed the likes of Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Ozzy Osbourne, and has been ranted at by John Lydon. He’s also in the select group of music journalists to have actually got on with Lou Reed. Marszalek taught music journalism at Middlesex University and co-ran the genre-fluid Stow Festival in Walthamstow for six years.