Mars Red Sky – Dawn of the Dusk
Release Date: 8th December 2023
Label: Mrs Red Sound & Vicious Circle
Bandcamp
Genre: Psychedelic Stoner Doom
FFO: All Them Witches, Kadaver, Truckfighters.
Review By: Paul Cairney
French psychedelic stoner rock trio, Mars Red Sky have slightly altered their sound with their latest album, Dawn of the Dusk. Yes, they still proffer their own brand of psychedelic doomy goodness, but there is more than a hint of post-rock in here, with subtle progressive tendencies, demonstrating the willingness of a band formed in 2007 to develop many moons later.
The best thing, however, about Mars Red Sky is that when they deliver their own brand of psychedelic doom, they do it incredibly well. The first 2 tracks on the album are very strong, they lead you into temptation and definitely do not deliver you from evil. ‘Break Even’ is the album opener and with its deliberate stoner fuzz, you do not expect the later songs to veer off their own tried and tested course.
All is normal with the Mars Red Sky world, although to be fair the 3rd track ‘The Final Round’ hints at a slight change, until the slow and relatively heavy instrumental 4th track. The band begin the transition into the more progressive post-rock psychedelic stoner doom – there’s a genre for you – and begin to lose control of the album.
Whilst Dawn of the Dusk does have notable strong moments within the final tracks of the album, the addition of female vocals in the final track is inspired, albeit the track is nowhere near their trademark sound. The band also provide the listener with deliberate slow tempos, just about maintaining the heaviness that they offered earlier.
The post-rock nature of the albums final tracks almost feels like Dawn of the Dusk fades away, drifting in the wind. The excitement that was driven into you in the first 3 songs is stolen from you in the final 3, which is a shame.
Ultimately, it feels like Mars Red Sky have delivered a pair of decent EP’s and collated them as a single album. It doesn’t flow like their earlier albums, and if you had the album in vinyl format, you would definitely play 1 side more often than the other. It would be your choice what one you’d prefer.
(3 / 5)
