Credits:
Artwork By [Collage] - Dirk Martens
Artwork By [Cover] - Martin Szoyra
Bass, Artwork By [Layout] - Philipp Rasthofer
Composed By - Colour Haze
Drums - Manfred Merwald
Guitar, Vocals, Lyrics By, Producer - Stefan Koglek
Photography - Falk Hagen Bernshausen
Recorded By, Mixed By - Tom Höfer

Review by jowcol from StonerRock.com;

A major step up from their last two albums (which were masterpieces ). If you already follow this band, you will be floored by this album. If you don’t, you should seriously consider starting with this album. This is an album that even deaf people shouldn’t miss!!

Background:

I have to confess that I think that Colour Haze is one of the coolest (if not THE coolest) bands in the Stoner scene, and much of this has to do with the fact that they add a lot of other elements to the traditional “stoner” formula. I’ve heard people cite elements of Pink Floyd or the Doors in their sound, but I also hear elements of jazz, eastern music, and classical, not to mention some of the minimalist/trance feel of 70’s era Tangerine Dream. But what I really like is the way the mix these elements into something very much their own, a personal vision that just “makes sense”, and gets clearer and clearer with each album.

From what I’ve heard, they were not happy with the way their last album, Ewige Blumenkraft, turned out, which surprises me, because I love that album to death. On a technical level, they were not happy with how the bass sound came through. A series of problems with different bass amps forced them to try several different ones, and they were also starting to outgrow their recording facilities and wanted to revisit the mixing process. On a more artistic level, they were seeking to vary their palette by adding more music with major scales and brighter colors.


Sound:
They have completely overhauled their recording capability for this album, and it shows. The sound is magnificent. While Stefan’s guitar has always been very clear in the mix, the biggest benefit from the improved sound is the degree of clarity and richness of detail that shows in Phillip’s bass lines and Mani’s drumming. Since both of them have a very “egoless” way of playing, the extra clarity really helps you appreciate the full Colour Haze sound in all of its intricacy.

For more details, check out the roadburn studio report at www.roadburn.com.

The Songs:

I won’t Stop:
This is a great opener. Although it comes off as a hard rocking salute to 70’s rock, it is not a short tune, but rather runs 8 minutes, and the first three are a long instrumental introduction. This is a pretty typical hallmark of Colour Haze: their song structures do not adhere to the traditional verse-chorus-verse format. Instead, many of their works remind me of classical music in that they take their time, slowly developing their thematic material logically, inevitably, pulling you in so deep that then they do launch into the more traditional stoner riffing, the completely kick your skull in. And this song does just that.


Roses:
I’m not going to say much about this except that this a solid composition mixing a lot of strong melodic ideas and power. I’m going to save space so that I can describe the next few tunes in the detail they deserve.

Zen:
With this cut, Colour Haze takes a huge step forward from their previous albums. I’d have to say that this is the best example I’ve ever heard of mixing jazz elements with stoner rock. The opening riff sounds like something McCoy Tyner or Wayne Shorter would have used in the late 60s. Mani’s cymbal work here is richly detailed, and transcends what one would expect of a rock drummer, and Phillipp’s base lines here wonderfully supple. Stefan’s leads not only play with the fluidity needed for a jazz composition, but elegantly lead into the heavier stoner section. What I admire most about this tune is how “whole” it is. . Even during the heavy passages, the melodic lines are so strong, and so integrated with the rest of the tune, that I can’t help but feel that if Johann Sebastian Bach were in the Stoner scene, he’d be playing in this band.


Plazmakeks:

This may now be my very favorite Colour Haze tune. The title refers a brand of Bosnian cookies which may be loosely translated as Plasma Cookies. (Yes, that sounds disturbing to me also). They have a rather psychedelic website where you can watch plazmakeks being made, or even join the Plasma Fun Club.

http://www.plazmakeks.co.yu/Default.htm

(If you want to see what they look like, you can also check on my "photo" in my profile)

Getting to the song itself—it is an incredible piece of transcendental psychedelia. After a little swell of guitar noise, it starts with a very subdued, tight eastern groove vaguely like the Door’s The End. The improved recording technology really shows itself here. Mani gets a really hypnotic insistent groove on drums, but behind that you hear a lot of sophisticated shadings and fills. Phillipp uncorks one of his signature base lines here—melodically inventive, meaty, full-toned and yet droning on the tonic enough to put you in a trance. Stefan’s lead enters with a mysterious, melancholy lick. I must admit I love his tone—he doesn’t rely on a lot of effects, but rather has a very clear, bright tone with immaculate intonation that creates bright metallic colours in my minds eye. The other thing I admire about his playing is the patience he will take in nursing a small musical idea and developing it with an almost classical elegance. As usual, this band stays in a modal groove for a lot longer than you’d expect before introducing a well-constructed chorus with some skull-kicking riffing, which then brings you back to the melodic lead at a higher level of intensity.

Once you are pulled deep into this trance for several minutes, another lead guitar line kicks in. (CH usually shoots for a live in the studio sound, and doesn’t rely too much on overdubs.) The lead darts out briefly, harmonizes with the other lead, and then takes off, weaving a melodic counterpoint to the first. Add the two guitar leads with the inventive baselines and you get what sounds like a psychedelic fugue for three voices. Incredible.

2 + 7: After the last two cuts, it was time for a breather. This song answers the questions “Can Colour Haze write a radio-friendly, three-minute pop song?”. Yes they can, and it’s exactly three minutes long. As a shot at the lack of depth in pop songs, the lyrics are deliberately pointless. I will admit however, this song does work—it’s catchy.

Sundazed: This is another huge breakthrough tune, and a I think a perfect realization of the band’s goals of creating a joyous, major-oriented song that wasn’t too cute. This one slays me. The two minute opening unfolds slowly in free meter, with some hendrixian riffing at its most lyrical and some wonderfully fluid backing from the rhythm section. You can tell these guys really listen to each other when they play—the control on the dynamics is so assured. Once the rhythm kicks in, there is a lot of droning, which gives this a very eastern sound. The melody lines here are fantastic—very beautiful and uplifting, but with enough yearning and tension to make this a work of art. And try not to sing along with the chorus. And then it kicks into overdrive, with some heavy (but appropriate riffing), followed by some really nice modal, eastern-flavored jamming. I really think this song would be very popular in the jam-band community.

Where the Skies End:
This is one of the most “different” songs on the album, and it shows how this band transforms source material into something quite different. The vocal lines were taken from a song on the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack, and the rhythm is a very original take on a blues shuffle. The results are something quite different. I must confess that this song never quite sounds the same to me each time I listen to it.

Weltraummantra:
Prepare yourself from some heavy psychedelia. This reminds me of Electrohasch from the previous album, the this song covers more ground during it’s 18:00 running time. The first few minutes are with very hushed dynamics, drones, and tiny fragments of sound. There is an incredible amount of shared listening going on—the tension builds. After 3-4 minutes a chiming kind of major-based theme emerges in 16th notes, taking its time to slowly raise in volume and intensity until it finally explodes into a harder chorus than anywhere in Electrohasch. The theme re-emerges, still with the sharply accented 16th notes, gaining in power and intensity, and exploding into another psychedelic chorus. The next time the theme emerges, there are some vocals almost chanting in German:
(lyrics and translation courtesy of Stefan Koglek)

Bin ich denn richtig in der Zeit?
Bin ich denn in der richtigen Zeit?
Bin ich denn richtig richtig?

which basically means :

Am I right in time?
Am I in the right time?
Am I real right?

The word "richtig" has the meanings of: right, real, genuine, true,
appropriate, suitable, proper, decent... so there a lot of possible
sense-combinations in the few words, but basically they just cover the
melody-line with words : )

If you liked Electrohasch, you will like this much more—I think the buildup is more dramatic, and the payoff is much heavier.

Other Side:
This is a strategically placed punk explosion between the previous long jam and the next one. Frankly, I’m not sure how much I’d like this song standing alone, but it REALLY belongs here.

Overriding:
Monumental. This sounds like one of those once in a lifetime late night jam sessions that just “happened”, and from what I heard, that’s the case. They weren’t originally planning on putting this on the album, but after the end of the second batch of recording sessions it pretty much happened in one take. (This probably explains why Los Sounds is a double album) This tune starts out with a classic Colour Haze hypno-groove leading into some deliciously heavy riffing. Next, Stefan explodes with some Hendrix flavored soloing that is some of the most free and unrestrained playing that they’ve ever committed to disc. The next section comes as a completely mind-scrambler—an organ kicks in more than 10 minutes into the song! This is enough to reduce the rest of your mind to a quivering puddle of goo. The organ establishes itself, weaves around the chorus and plays some nice leads. Then Stefan plays some of the wonderfully restrained lyrical lead lines as the organ recedes back into the rhythm section. The ending surprised me at first—the organ continues for a couple minutes after the rest of the band drops out, and not soloing so much as providing swells of color. Did they originally plan to fade out over this part? I must admit, it has really grown on me, and I’m glad they left it in. It’s like going from moving shapes into a pure colour haze….

Schlaflied:
(The title means “sleep song” or lullaby)
This is a great way to end the album on a relaxed note. It is an extremely pretty song with solo guitar with a haunting melody. The way this song closes the album reminds me of either “Thorn Tree in the Garden” from Layla or “The Price of Freedom” from CSNY’s 4-Way Street. It’s funny, but after listening to the second disc, Schlaflied keeps echoing in my head, and I can’t listen to any other music for at least an hour. Like all great music, this album keeps sounding good long after you are finished listening to it.

Overall:
I guess I can’t hide the fact that I love this album, and that the last two stellar Colour Haze albums did not prepare me for the big jump they were to take with this one. This has it all—superior technical production, more ambitious (and successful) songwriting, strong instrumental compositions, outstanding musicianship, and that spark I cannot put into words that feels “right” to me on many levels

To call this one of the Great Stoner albums would not be fair to this album, as this is an incredible collection of music that defies categories and deserves a much wider audience. The biggest drawback to this album is that Stefan, Phillipp, and Mani are going to have to work VERY hard to come up with something better than this one.

You can support and preview this amazing band here:
http://www.colourhaze.de/