This is the second dose of heavy sedatives from this Oslo crew. Here’s the thing: it’s hard to see Earth from space when you’re standing on it. The concept of a contemporary band cribbing freely from the early 70s proto-metal and space-rock movements might seem redundant to you, but it’s all gonna be the same to kids a thousand years from now, and that’s who Spectral Haze are playing for.
Musically, Turning Electric thrums nicely along a continuum that starts with Hawkwind, Gong and Sir Lord Baltimore, slips seamlessly through Monster Magnet and Spacemen 3, and lands in a colourful swirl somewhere near the tail end of the last century.
But the music is really just the entrance point. This is full-on immersion, a great gulping of nightmare and ecstasy, the kind of thing Meat Loaf mastermind Jim Steinman might’ve crafted for Black Sabbath during their Sabotage days.
The highlight has gotta be the frankly amazing They Live, a flurry of sub-basement riffs and bubbling 70s comic-book synth that only lasts for eight minutes but will make you feel like you just lost several days.
