What are you gonna do when you’re up for some unknown music, given that most of your favourite bands haven’t had a new release yet? Right, read some magazines or go to the internet and trawl bandcamp.
Elephant on Onyx are a band you may (at least for the moment) only meet by chance on one of your internet safaris. Their debut EP (or demo) can be downloaded for free (or for a price of your choice) on their bandcamp site, so this may just be a short appetiser for what’s about to happen.
The four Italian’s 4 track EP often recalls the good old Fu Manchu 90s, although the overall guitar sound contains a stronger prise of heaviness. The start unfortunately comes over like a curtailed experimentation of an electro intro mixed with a short riff that also could easily have been a jingle for some cheap product on a midnight TV program. Predator thankfully saves the day and gives the direction of the characterising sound of 90s stoner and psychedelic rock.
Be it fast parts or doom, Elephant on Onyx do a good overall job, but the listener shouldn’t expect huge innovations of the genre. Moreover, the vocals sometimes drone out in a way that is way too Fu Manchesque, sometimes at the riffs cost. Nevertheless, the changes from heavy stoner parts to psychedelic melodies evoke a pretty good feeling, and one should try this appetiser and remain very curious about the way a potential full album will sound like.