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I've been listening to Second Psychadelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes from Finland's Jess and the Ancient Ones quite a bit over the past few days and I'm going to start by saying this is waaaay over at the Hard Rock end of the Heavy Metal spectrum so if your tastes don't similarly lean, you can stop reading now. If you're still with me, this is a band that reaches back to the music that would all contribute to the rise of what we know as Heavy Metal culminating in the NWOBHM phenomena of the early 80s. Jess' wild vocals, as I've said before, are not unlike Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick, the riffs are inspired by UFO and Uriah Heep and the weird occult lyrics are straight out of Sabbath and Pentagram. Songs like "Samhain" and "The Equinox Death Trip" have just enough speed and power to go along with their off-kilter themes to transcend genres. Unfortunately, the whole album isn't in the same vein and the band indulges in some trippy, 60s-inspired jamming especially on the 22 minute closer "Goodbye to Virgin Grounds Forever." The Moody Blues-esque exercise in endurance is not worth two minutes to say nothing of 22. To me, this self-indulgence diminishes the impact of the album and I don't think it stands up to the debut.

I like this band because I like this style (Hard Rock/Heavy Metal with a psychedelic twist) but it is absolutely not for everyone, to say nothing of the uneven nature of this album (the first six songs are pretty good, the last three not so much). This band has been floating around the edges of the Heavy Metal scene so if nothing else, treat this review as public service announcement.