Even in the indulgent, early 90s rave era, Ozric Tentacles attracted a measure of punkish antipathy and were perceived by some to be taking the neo-hippy thing just a bit too far.
However, they’ve ploughed on, surprisingly undisturbed by competitors in their furrow; taking up all the abandoned excesses of the prog era and setting them in the context of acid house electronics. You can live without them but you can certainly live with them.
So, from Attack Of The Vapours on, The Ozrics proceed with Paper Monkeys as is their wont: at sequencer-driven hyper-speed, their synth curlicues and spirals flitting about amid unabashedly squealing forays of guitar noodling, their elaborate, prolonged instrumentals meshing on an expanding, gatefold sleeve scale, always pleasantly – if only fitfully piercing the realms of the sublime on tracks such as Will Of The Wisps.
Ozric fans won’t be disappointed, non-fans unperturbed.
