Calliope: Chapel Perilous

        The luminous haze of the desert horizon's sun-drenched dawn swells. A shimmering wave of hallucinatory colors begin to ebb like a refractive jewel. Soon, a strange, panoramic sea of kaleidoscopic patterns accumulates across the rising expanse. Chapel Perilous is born.
These mind-expanding forces collide in the form of a symphonic shamanic ritual by Milwaukee's own Calliope. The vision quest begins with Victor Buell IV's lucid, lysergic guitar tones woven throughout Al Kraemer's vintage Farfisa combo organ, heavily reminiscent of Syd Barret-era Floyd at its trance-inducing roots. The opener even picks up where the Barret-era left off: in a further-down-the-rabbit-hole force, channeling a slower, heavier Astronomy Domine. Chapel Perilous carefully expands its songs until their "peak," with the raw, fuzz-pedal-driven energies once pioneered by space rock godfathers Hawkwind, and continue to mount in a culmination of otherworldly, anti-matter cacophonies of heavy blues, drone, and vintage psych.
        Not only do these retro British psychedelic rock influences infuse the album—their effectively unique style is also melded by Western, desertlike Doors-style poetry and lyricism—as Al is in no hurry to let each word linger upon the layers (or should I say dimensions...) of oozing, hypnotizing chords. Trances and meditation form the theme of this newest installment from the now-seasoned heavy psych aficionados as the album's title derives from psychology: "Chapel Perilous is known as a state in which one cannot be certain whether they have been aided or hindered by some force outside the realm of the natural world, or whether what appeared to be supernatural interference was a product of their own imagination." The line between reality and illusion is constantly altered throughout—like the inducing of a mesmerizing spell—and mindcandy at its finest.
          Even such forgotten classics such as The Beatles' Within, You, Without You that incorporated Eastern styles also holds a considerable sway throughout the groovy soundscapes. The same 70s gateway to hyperspace that In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida invokes—friendly, yet mysterious netherworlds and twilight zones—are revisited and expanded upon as listener becomes a mere visitor of their realm of tantalizing fuzz and saga-like departures from the physical world. Gargantuan walls of sound are carefully finessed with the clever restraint of a doomy lullaby. "Evil as You" and "Sands of July" are both stellar examples of their righteous transitional abilities from light to heavy and back. In fact, there is no shortage of influences to the band: such that, when asked to write of them, the band simply states: "too many." Clearly, this surface has only been scratched.
          The full force can be witnessed May 4th—at Milwaukee Psych Fest behind a swirling mirage of colors from the Mad Alchemist Liquid Light show. If you're a fan of Iron Butterfly, Ruby The Hatchet, Siena Root, Deep Purple, Dead Meadow, or Electric Moon, listen to this album immediately and support their bandcamp page!