Of Sound Mind

Los Angeles-based heavy-psych quartet Ancestors have, as their name suggests, thoroughly absorbed the work of their late-'60s and early-'70s forebears. They tend to go for a doomy, psychedelic sound reminiscent of Deep Purple, Meddle-era Pink Floyd and Uriah Heep rather than the amped-up stomp of Grand Funk Railroad or Hawkwind's spacy explorations. Their first release, Neptune with Fire, contained only two songs in just under 40 minutes, and was more about mood than aggressive forward movement. This follow-up, quite clearly designed to be heard on double-vinyl as it includes four lengthy pieces, features as much organ as guitar, and the vocals are sometimes a hoarse roar and other times are delivered in a group singalong style that recalls rock bands affiliated with cults, like Ya Ho Wha 13. The drums even have that early-'70s cardboard-box sound. The long tracks are bracketed by short fragments: "Not the Last Return" is 90 seconds of aimless piano, while "A Friend" offers three minutes of synth squiggles and drones leading into the nearly 18-minute "The Trial," which starts off a Floydian guitar jam and becomes almost Mastodon-heavy toward the end. Another piano piece, this one over six minutes long, introduces the album's final cut, the aggressive "The Ambrose Law," a very Uriah Heep-like rave-up that takes the disc out on a high note. Though there are no new ideas here, Ancestors have cherry-picked the best ones from 35 years ago, and longhairs who think rock music's been on a downward slide since 1975 will love this album.