Los Angeles band Tombstones In Their Eyes serves up another psychedelic rock hymn called “Alive and Well”. And honestly? It’s a trip you take with your whole nervous system. Clocking in at a glorious four and a half minutes, the song pulses like a living thing. Tombstones In Their Eyes crystallize everything that makes their music matter: the hypnotic repetition of Spacemen 3, the desert-forged heft of Kyuss, and the dreamy genius of Pink Floyd, all threaded through a unique melodic attitude. But despite its lineage, “Alive and Well” isn’t retro worship or cliched. The guitars roar, the unpolished voices swirl, the rhythm section burns like sand under the burning sun. It’s a song, which seems like a transmission rather than a performance. The production, clean but explosively warm, lets the distortion breathe and nothing feels forced into shape. It’s psychedelia at its finest—a song that speaks directly to your mind and pulls you into a wild, sensual, exhilarating ride. Lyrically and emotionally, “Alive and Well”, which is dedicated to the late guitarist of the band, Paul Boutin, is about rising out of desperate circumstances with newfound strength. Mix the notes, the emotions and the lyrics, and you will get a psychedelic rock monster—one that grows inside you and growls with wild, untamed energy. It’s fierce, loud, raw, and beautifully out of control. The spaceship of Tombstones in their Eyes takes off, travels through the stars and lands on a mysterious planet. Out of space and out of time, otherworldly music for your bold ears!
♦ 8/10
Dimitris Zacharopoulos
band photo by Karin Johansson
