For record collectors who coo over coloured vinyl and artwork deserving of a place on the wall, the Second Coming Of Heavy series is a fine example of how stoner, doom and psych is leading the way in offering the full package. The latest instalment is a multi-coloured pressing, limited to 300 copies.
The cover is worth the price tag alone, adorned with a colour-rich desert landscape surrounding a shamanic, vapor-breathing beauty. The problem is that this split album doesn’t quite live up to the presentation. Red Mesa’s Low And Slow is a smouldering, reverb-heavy semi-epic and Utopia benefits from trippy atmospherics while Blue Snaggletooth’s morsels focus on riffing and authentic throwbacks with a tasty dose of fretwork. But for all the razzle dazzle of the packaging, it’s not a landmark record that will sit between your Kyuss and Fu Manchu records. That said, if all you need is some invigorating pre-1975 fuzz, then it’s definitely worth a dip.
