Chronicles, Vol. 2

The second of the two collections of unreleased material appearing on , again has the / lineup, plus 's girlfriend and a guest cellist on again doing its thing. Consisting of two side-long jam sessions, it makes for a feast for hardcore fans who favor that band's lengthy, motorik/ aspect. Given the general similarities to tracks on the first , it's likely that everything was recorded in the same batch of sessions. On once again is in major vocal distortion/weirdness mode, proclaiming whatever it is he's talking about -- aliens, doom, sex, and death -- through his favored layers of murk. , meanwhile, again takes the musical lead, and while one will always know he'll pull out another lengthy feedback solo, he does a great job with it every time. keep the groove going as they do, if perhaps a touch more leadenly than before. The beat leaves about seven minutes in before reappearing, with the rest of the music, being run in reverse -- if an obvious enough trick, it still does sound pretty good -- before sinking away into various doodlings, then firing up again. also fits into the same general vein, though with a notably slower beat. still goes all over the place with his guitar, though, and at least sounds a little more involved this time out, vocal distortion or not. Still, the chorus -- a ponderously whispered "Here be I/Gehenna Lion" -- is rather more giggle-worthy than much of his earlier weird-out material. The second part of the track, with a slightly different but still slow and ponderous rhythm, provides more fine guitar stoned/freakout soloing for aural stimulation. ~ Ned Raggett