Heavy space-rock quartet Technicolor Blood unleashed their first full-length LP Evolution Now on April 25^th. The Montreal band, consisting of Martin Dupras on vocals, guitar, and synths, Dominic Leclerc on bass, Carl Bedard on drums, and newest member David Hardy on guitar, deals in heavy doses of sludgy, plodding, groove-based guitar rock reminiscent of bands like Black Sabbath or stoner rock legends Kyuss.  But the group is adept at soaring off into the stratosphere in a way that feels like Hawkwind or Josh Homme’s other more melodic outfit, Queens of the Stone Age.

 

The album overflows with a wildly varied array of guitar riffs. When the band moves from dense, gloom-and-doom riffage into an ascending staircase of melodic sweetness, the effect is breathtaking.  The interplay between lead and rhythm guitars is excellent throughout. Drenched in fuzz and wah-wah, the guitars weave together with the synths to form a heavy layer that paves onto the bedrock of a rhythmic groove set by Leclerc and Bedard. Dupras’ effects-laden vocals serve up punchy punk melodies but are always in service to the song. The two instrumentals, “Year of the Saints” and “Anaadi”, demonstrate the contrasts in the band’s sound, but both still manage to ride the chunky grooves that define the group.