On Trial - Blinded By The Sun (2022)

Call it desert rock, acid rock, stoner rock, or whenever else you want -- On Trial's sound is straight out of 1970. Like Kyuss and Masters of Reality, these Danish retro-rock veterans fall in line with the more relaxed, psychedelic end of the proto-metal spectrum. In fact, much of Blinded by the Sun is hardly metal at all, bringing to mind such psych-era inspirations as the Amboy Dukes, 13th Floor Elevators, early Pink Floyd, and some of Jimi Hendrix' or even the Stooges' mellower moments rather than Black Sabbath. The album's strong point is the authentic production, which has a warm, analog glow and an especially nice, roomy drum sound. The acoustic guitars and occasional surprise instrumental flourishes such as mariachi-tinged trumpets are also handled well. The songwriting is fairly solid, especially toward the beginning of the album, although as it nears the end, the band shows a frustrating tendency to go on autopilot and simply coast, knowing that at least their wah-wah pedals sound good. (The lyrics are especially brain-dead and by-the-numbers in places.) And as the songwriting goes, so goes the album as a whole, walking the fine line between vintage- and classy-sounding on one hand and simply dated on the other. It's mostly the former, though, and as retro acid/psych-rock goes, you could do a lot worse. ~ William York