Recently I found out that a band I’ve been keeping my eye on, Voice of the Mysterons, had released their debut album.
To give a bit of background, one of my all-time favourite albums is “The Monster who Ate Jesus”, the last release from underground punk champions Blaster the Rocketman. There’s so much about this album I love, from the playful cowpunk style music to the post-graduate-essay-in-a-song lyrics. It draws on stacks of things that resonate with me; the lyrics are all heavily inspired by werewolves, vampires, bizarre scientific experiments, CS Lewis’ cosmic trilogy, and all manor of B-Grade sci-fi horror. I’d love to have been able to see these guys live – apparently it was an awesome spectacle, with the fans dressing up as all manner of bizarre creatures.
After the demise of Blaster, the lead singer and lyricist Otto Bot moved to Scotland, and founded a new band “Voice of the Mysterons”. I found out recently that they’ve released their debut album, “They Have Pulled Down Deep Heaven on their Heads,…” and I’m happy to say that it’s a mighty fine effort.
The band has a much darker tone then Blaster, and both the music & Otto’s lyrics reflect this. It’s definitely an album you need to be reading the lyrics alongside while you listen – the songs are all dripping with hidden meanings that would be impossible to discern from just a casual listen. Listening to Deep Heaven is almost like discovering some ancient crusty book in a forgotten corner of a dusty library. When you listen to it, it fills your head with swirling visions and fleeting thoughts that are impossible to grasp individually, but somehow convey a hugely grandiose message anyway.
Lyrically, it’s all monsters and slimy crawling creatures. There’s much fewer CS Lewis references then Blaster had, but traces of the cosmic trilogy still show their head occasionally. Musically, the Mysterons are much more experimental than Blaster ever was. I was pleasantly suprised with the quality of the recording too, from the liner notes I gather it was a mostly home-made effort. It’s got a really warm feel to the sound, and generally seems to be well mixed & mastered.
Anyway, I’d suggest checking out a couple of songs online before tracking down the album. It’s not the kind of music that appeals to many people! But keep in mind when you do, that without a pair of good headphones and the liner notes for guidance, you’ll miss most of what makes Voice of the Mysterons so special.
(You can buy this album online direct from their label – boot to head)