Acid Mothers Temple - Starless and Bible Black Sabbath Released August 4, 2008

Starless and Bible Black Sabbath is Acid Mothers Temple's tribute to the greatest metal band ever !

Acid Mothers Temple, of course are the vrilliant Japanese psychedelic ensemble, a band influenced by many things, including krautrock and Stockhausen

While this album is certainly a tribute record it doesn’t consist of straight-up Sabath worship in the simple sense of covers. The band sounds as if they are simultaneously paying respect to other Sabbath-influenced projects such as Melvins or Zeni Geva, the later being the former home of Tabata, one of the Temple’s latest recruits.

With respect to its heaviness this release has similarities to “Electric Heavyland” our first release by Acid Mothers Temple, however this recording is richer, clearer and less harsh.

“Starless and Bible Black Sabbath” consists of two tracks, the first being an epic thirty four minute blowout titled “Lady from Hell”. The opening cut begins in a similar fashion to Black Sabbath’s eponymous opening track on their debut album, albeit much less dramatic. The piece evolves slowly until a third of the way through the track vocals, . vaguely reminiscent of those of a young Ozzy Osbourne, come into to the mix. This track, with its tremendous echo effect, sounds like the band is playing in a huge hockey arena. Also notable is the use of two drummers playing virtually the same thing much of the track, but with slightly different timing, once again adding to the feeling of massive depth and space to piece.

The second track relates more to the band’s obsession with Kraut rock, sounding like the more pop-oriented period of Hawkwind. This piece has more in common with the gentler sound found on the “Mantra of Love” release or the recent “IAO Chant” release, a tribute to Gong. The album’s packaging is a beautiful reworking of the original cover of Black Sabbath’s debut, only this version features Acid Mother’s Temple’s Kawabata Makoto in the cover photo instead of a women.

Tracks : 1 Starless and Bible Black Sabbath 34:20 / 2 Woman From A Hell 6:12
(Alien 8/Cargo)

Buy at spincds