Released By : Hydro-Phonic Records

Genre : Doom Metal, Stoner Rock, Space Rock

Links : http://www.myspace.com/blueaside

Tracklist:

01. The Traveler Of Time And Space

02. Otis’ Sun

03. Orange Eyes

04. Black Rays

05. The Inevitable Journey

Even though Boston based band BLUE ASIDE have only been around for a couple of short years, what they have offered up on this five track demo is quite impressive and really does feel like something you expect from a band who wave been together a lot longer. When people get together to create music, sometimes it can take years for it to all fall in place but every now and then thinks just click quite easily and quickly, which is obviously what happened when these guys first got together. Obviously the fact that all of these guys have been in decent bands prior to this collaboration has helped ready them for it in a good fashion.

THE ORANGE TREE is a five song E.P that is based in the sound of traditional doom metal, but also has a strong affliction to space rock and has a very stoner rock feel throughout. The five songs add up to a total of 35 minutes, which is good value for an E.P and had the band thrown another two tracks on here it could have easily been promoted as a full length release.

In the band’s press kit they state their music would be well suited to fans of bands like DEAD MEADOW, NAAM, QUEST FOR FIRE, YOB, SONS OF OTIS and BORIS, but to be honest I’m not really familiar with any of those groups so all I can say is that if you recognize some of the names above there is a good chance that THE ORANGE TREE is going to be up your alley.

Calling THE ORANGE TREE a bunch of songs is the most traditional way of looking at things, but the fact is that this E.P is more of a full soundscape that should be listened to in a darkened room with some good headphones so it can take you on a journey through space and time in your mind. Throughout the time you will hear a whole bunch of different stuff, from some really slow doom riffing, some dual-guitar melodic soloing, some death metal scream vocals and a lot of progressive rock sounding elements too. I think the reason I enjoyed this E.P so much is that with all of the different things the band bring to the table it just simply shouldn’t have worked, but BLUE ASIDE did make it work and have actually created for themselves a very unique style which will appeal to a wide range of fans across multiple genres, now how can you possibly faulty a band for that. It’s also refreshing to listen to an E.P with a pretty good production, which is a rare thing these days as most E.P’s are self-released and self-produced. Music like this doesn’t lend itself very well to poor production values so I am very glad the band resisted the urge to do it themselves.

If you like any bands from the doom metal, stoner rock or space metal genres, give BLUE ASIDE a bit of an honest listen, they are a fresh band that bring some exciting ideas to the table and while they may still need just a tiny bit of improvement to really push themselves out there, THE ORANGE TREE is still a most worthy purchase and something that I will enjoying for a while yet, at least until the band offer us up a full-length album in the future.

Written By ZeeZee

Rating : 8/10