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All Hail The Red Scalp Nation!

Red Scalp are a four piece stoner rock band from Pleszew, Poland who describe their sound as “stoner doom music with indianish spirit and Sabbath legacy. We worship the heavy riffs, old rituals and fuzzy sound. We love indians and space, we’re space indians.”

Now, if like me, after reading the above statement you are thinking, Native American themed space rock? Really? Well fear not fuzzers, Jed (Guitar & Vocals), Dembas (Guitar), Jankes (Bass) and Bati (Drums) ensure that “Rituals” delivers on all the above and more.

How is the sound?

The opening track ‘Summoner’ bursts into life like the morning sun rising above the horizon, enveloping you with its warm fuzzy glow. ‘Looking For Land’ and ‘Dance On The Sun’ complete the first half of the album and this trifecta of riff filled, heavy rock tunes will definitely get you moving.

‘Tatanka’, Buffalo in the Lakota language, is the next track which starts with a sample of some authentic Native American chanting before the guitars come roaring in with great effect. A riff lifted straight from Black Sabbath’s Iron Man takes over before the sound drops down to a smooth bass groove and some atmospheric echoed vocals. Red Scalp then take up the chanting with gusto and there is also an impressive guitar solo within the song.

The album’s epic title track ‘Rituals’ follows, the song gradually grows beneath a spoken word sample before unleashing a behemoth of stoner doom sounds that would stop a herd of stampeding bison in its tracks. At the mid-point of the song we are treated to another shredding guitar solo and also listen out for a sound that i can only describe as a screaming Cougar!

If i have one criticism of this album it is with the vocals. Although the tone fits in well with the music, the effects placed on the vocals make them unintelligible to me a lot of the time. If the lyrics cannot add weight to the concept of the album then i fear it may come across as a tad gimmicky.

Having said that, i still enjoyed listening to this album and hope you do to fuzzers!

Why is this album worth listening?

Riff laden heavy rock

Unusual concept theme makes this record stand out from the crowd

In what situation you should listen to this album?

On the open plain, sat around a fire, toking on a peace pipe.

Something particular to note?

Red Scalp’s debut record EP No.1, released in 2014, is in fact just as much a full length record as Rituals. Six tracks, over forty minutes long and it is still available at name your price on Bandcamp.