THE LOCKED WARD - Voyages Into The Inner Psych Of… (reviewed on TimeMazine #6)

THE LOCKED WARD - Voyages Into The Inner Psych Of…
2011 (LP/CD Nasoni Rec)

The Locked Ward are from Norwich, England. I have no other information about them as the only thing I have is a CDR from their upcoming album on Nasoni Records, that one of the members, Craig, kindly enough offered to send over in case I liked it and wanted to do a review. Not only I loved it, not only I’m reviewing it, but also I aired it through my radio-show quite a few times! This band will definitely keep us pretty busy in the near future… So, let’s focus to the music… Album kicks off with the 90sec “Intro To Madness”, I don’t know if it’s an Intro to Madness, but I’m positive that it’s an Intro to Psychness and to Heavyness. “Moving At The Pace Of Valium” is a chaotic psych-rock tune with a lot going on at the background (like tons of feedback). Starts fast but becomes slower, a swirling guitar sound, screams, pounding drums and a voice of a really young Ozzy. “Breaker Of Lives And Souls” is more heavy, more into a psych vein with speedy guitar sound and distinctive bass becoming really trippy psychedelic towards its end (you can listen it on the CD comp of the issue). “All I see Brightly In The Darkness” is a beautiful mid-tempo psych ballad taken straight from the 70s. “Voices In My Mind (Head Caverns)” is a hot-rocker with lots of feedback and a wonderful adventurous guitar solo and continuous ups and downs. “Am I Sick” is a wonderful smooth electric ballad with deep self-exploration lyrics while “As They Lay Sleeping (The Defining Art Of Self Despondancy)” is taken straight from The Masters Of Reality sessions. Next is the long “Words Can Only Echoe The Sadness That The Hours Bring” (11:48), starts in a moody, fuzzy torturous psyche way with a couple of killer speed ups alongside and ends in a mess of feedback sounds. Last one is the title track of the album “Voyages Into The Inner Psych Of…”, 8min and 30sec of pure psych creepy atmosphere with noises, tons of feedback (yes again, any problem?), strange effects, screams, breaths while Craig is spitting the words of a poem or something, really weird and I’d have to ask the guys if they’re just fooling around in the studio or did someone unlock the ward and the insane asylum is now open to the public or the opposite(got it?)….Great Effort… Invest… TimeLord Michalis

But it from here: http://www.nasoni-records.com/The_Locked_Ward_release_Voyages_Into_The_Inner_Psych_Of.html