Hippie Death Cult – Helichrysum
Release Date: 20th October 2023
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Bandcamp
Genre: Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Doom Rock, Retro Rock.
FFO: High Reeper, Black Rainbows, Psychlona, Acid Mammoth, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Hawkwind.
Review By: Mark Waight
Be prepared to take a journey back to the LSD fuelled days of the late 60s and early 70s, with a psychedelic infused heavy blues rock album of good old-fashioned, no holds barred rock’n’roll. Imagine a world of platform shoes, flared jeans, tight T-shirts and Afro hair, and you will be right there with Hippie Death Cult and their latest album Helichrysum.
Helichrysum is the third album from Hippie Death Cult, following on from 111 (2019) and Circle of Days (2021) and completes their journey from a four-piece to a three-piece band.
Hippie Death Cult is Laura Phillips (vocals and bass), Eddie Brnabic (guitar) and Harry Silvers (drums).
Our groovy journey begins with Arise, which contains a truly wicked old-school, fuzzy riff right from the off. This fabulous song just about fills every corner of the room with hauntingly doomy vocals and a hazy, deep and rich sound. Far out man!
We are taken into the Shadows with some super hard percussion before a battle between lighter and darker composition passages begins. The vocals coolly drift along, accompanied by some deft guitar work with more than a tinge of blues about it. The Led Zeppelin style opening to Better Days will remind you so much of one of the classics that it’s just uncanny. The music is beautifully retro, but right in the sweet spot, and the vocals are completely dreamy, creating a modern retro masterpiece where you will be longing for those simpler times to return once more.
Red Giant gently eases us into a much faster and busier Psychedelic track which rattles along at a fair old pace. The vocals are much more forceful in their delivery, with some mighty fine screams thrown in for good measure. The whole thing builds up nicely to a clever staggered finish. The screaming vocal intro to Toxic Annihilator begins a superfast track that carries on at a furious pace as it slowly ratchets up in intensity to a thrilling climax. This has a more modern twist to it, whilst the stinging waspy guitar riff gives it an authentic echo of the past.
Nefelibata is a superb cocktail of many different parts, if you were to blend Sabbath, the Doors and Zeppelin their love child may sound something like this. This is very cool musical alchemy of superior quality, and the result is banging, so Hippie hats off to Hippie Death Cult.
The wonderful Tomorrow’s Sky closes thing off with a cracking sonic feast for your ears. The sound just resonates sweetly through your mind and will blow it big time. The band performance is just so tight it feels almost impossible for only three people to generate this intoxicating wall of sound, but they have and it’s groovy, man!
If you like an album that you can kick back and relax to, one that will take you on a fantastic voyage without the aid of any mind-altering substances, then Helichrysum is just you need in your life. Hippie Death Cult were unknown to me before being given this album to review, but they are now very much on my radar and have gained another fan here.
Any fans of old school 60s/70s Hard Rock, Blues Rock and Psychedelic Rock should check Helichrysum out as Hippie Death Cult have breathed new life into this genre. Helichrysum will also engage with a younger generation of fans, introduce them to these traditional genres and maybe raise their curiosity to look up some of the past masters too. Highly recommended.
(4.5 / 5)
