Kind – Rocket Science

Sometimes in sports, a team will gather a bunch of superstars on their roster, with the idea that all of the mega-talents involved must create an unstoppable team.Music has the same idea, with the phrase “supergroup” thrown around anytime members of different bands get together to form a new band.Whether sports or music, a lot of the time this idea falls flat, because what really matters in any ensemble, either sports team or band, is that the players have chemistry.It has to be the right fit, the right ones coming together in the right ways, to create something special.Kind are a supergroup, and they have definitely come together to make something very special.
The band is made up of Matt Couto of Elder, Darryl Shepard of Black Pyramid and The Scimitar, Tom Corino of Rozamov, and Craig Riggs of Roadsaw.If you know anything of these bands individually, this is enough to get you excited.Wait until you hear the end result.They play a kind of blues for the cosmic wanderer, like, if space truckin' was really a thing, this would be the 8 track tape in every player.The vibe they create is very fluid and if you didn't know better you'd swear these guys had played together for 15 years.Everything they do, every riff, every time they launch into a jam, sounds organic and just as it should sound.There are no missteps anywhere on this album.This is simply great stuff.
One of things I enjoy about this album is that you can feel power of the band underneath everything they do.Each song has a great verse/chorus/verse section, but they feel like a thoroughbred race horse, just surging along until they really run into the jam part of each song.That's when they really hit, and just like Secretariat rolling down the home stretch in the Belmont, they can't be touched.When these guys drop the hammer and let loose, I don't know that I can really describe it.You just have to hear it for yourself.
Highlights of the album for me start with the very first track, “German For Lucy”.Kind come out firing on all cylinders, just a blistering start to the album.Then about halfway through, they pull it back to a half-time jam that is simply breathtaking.“Siberia” is just a stunner.After 7 tracks of rip-snorting, take no prisoners heaviness, they dial it back and slow it down and man, what a song!A gorgeous track with a great lyric and very tasteful playing.It's something that makes me just stop whatever I'm doing and listen every time I hear it.The final track, “The Angry Undertaker”, really showcases the psychedelic jamming that these guys are capable of.The song builds and builds until finally it reaches the peak and winds back down.
I love albums like this, that make you want to take them for a spin over and over again.There is a lot of depth to the arrangements and you hear nuances each time you listen.This is really a masterful album full of great songs, and if you have friends who want to know what all this stoner rock/heavy rock revival business is all about, this would be a fantastic gateway album for them to check out.This one needs to be in your collection as soon as you can get your hands on it.And hey, I didn't even make a “Rocket Science” joke.
- ODIN