Nebula - Heavy Psych

One of the leading lights of the 90s stoner movement, this latest opus from Nebula is a bit on the patchy side. Pulse is a slow-burning opener that initially suggests the seminal trio may be getting passed it. Have the years of weed and booze finally caught up, hastening in an era of mid-paced, swirling psychedelia, where open-legged guitar posturing is replaced by idly footering with increasingly more elaborate effects pedals? Thankfully “NO” is the answer positively screamed by the following two numbers. Both The Dagger and Aphrodite are vintage, guitar-smitten Nebula calling-cards. The sound on this record is roomier overall, more retro than normal, their sense of nostalgia clearly having waned none in the last decade. Other notable highlights include the fiery Crown Of Thorns and Lead Sky. Elsewhere however, the slower numbers are too pedestrian. Neither entirely seductive nor lulling, Heavy Psych occasionally ambles by in a way that Nebula never should.