Ancient Astronauts. Motorpsycho

With the artwork of its new album, Motorpsycho clearly draws a line with the previous three. Here's something new the Norwegian prog, psych and what not rockers seem to want to convey to the world. Don't expect something new musically though. Motorpsycho does what it does best and adds some extra muscle to the mix it seems. Not just 'newby" drummer Thomas Järmyr is flexing his, the whole band does. Despite slowly moving into their mid-50s founding members Saether and Ryan go all the way as well.

The new music, in part, was created during a collaboration between two dancers and the band. Due to Covid not many people were able to see this performance. This may change, due to another project the band was involved in, making a movie instead of an online performance like most bands did. This remains to be determined though.

Somewhere in the mid 1970s I heard an album called 'In Search Of Ancient Gods' by a band called Absolute Elsewhere. I have a strong feeling Ancient Astronauts has been influenced by this album. The slowly developing instrumental pieces that work towards giant eruptions of sound. Musically there are many, many differences between the two albums, in spirit and outset they are similar. This gives this album something doubly familiar: The Motorpsycho sound that is obviously present and the Absolute Elsewhere vibe that shines through loud and clear.

Take the fourth and final song, with an impossible title, 'Chariot Of The Sun To Phaeton On The Occasion Of Sunrise (Theme From An Imagined Movie)'. After a storm of instrumental fireworks in the previous song, the mood goes all the way down for what could be a film soundtrack. Here it is an imagined movie, with Absolute Elsewhere it was inspiration by the books of Erich von Däniken. The cosmos and its mysteries is never far off here. The song is as mysterious as the suggestion of forest ghosts depicted on the sun-laden cover photograph of the album. Or, are they ancient astronauts? and here we're back with Von Däniken's theories set to music by Absolute Elsewhere.

Promo photo: Terje Visnes

All this aside, is Ancient Astronauts good? That answer, again I can add, has to be yes. Motorpsycho delivers once again. For long time fans there may not be enough to call it new. The four new songs are strong and add significantly to what came before though. For people who are new to Motorpsycho, there's nothing to be ashamed of here. Ancient Astronauts is an as good as any album to step in and meet the band for the first time.

The album offers a long jam, that is clearly structured around agreed upon points and three somewhat shorter songs that show the louder side of the band. It's all here and instead of what happened to me with the band's albums from around 2010, this time each new album comes to me as a pleasant present from Norway.

Wout de Natris