First, there's the straightforward thickness of Kyuss disciples Corrosion of Conformity. The resin-sopped riffs of Pepper Keenan's oft-overlooked stoner rock troupe seem to offer the blueprint for much of the opening track on Ancestors' Neptune With Fire. Second, there's the suffocatingly slow inertia of Sleep. The doom progeny's stillness informs the rest of this L.A. five-piece's debut, and Arik Roper, the psych-artist who designed Sleep's Dopesmoker's album art, designed the visuals for Neptune. And then, when you get away from the backbone, there's Pink Floyd and maybe even Hawkwind here as well. But it's those two immediately perceptible reference points that make for an interesting 1990s-informed take on 70s hard psyche, early doom, and art rock.
The album consists of just two songs-- "Orcus' Avarice" is over 16 minutes, the title track is more than 20-- and both serve as launching pads for extended jams. But the soloing is supported by some serious riffs. "Orcus' Avarice" evokes CoC, with an urgency that brings to mind "Heaven's Not Overflowing" and a pace reminiscent of "Albatross". It's the kind of lumbering meganess that easily turns on a dime. So by the time the drums have reeled in, and the guitars ascend into outer-space, it's hard to recall the tumult that came only moments before. Ancestors, able to do more than whip up a simple fervor, spend a good six minutes inspecting the same guitar scale and a slippery blues bassline that gradually builds to climax, like creatine Pink Floyd.
But the big coup here-- the game-changer, really-- is the presence of an organ. It noodles underneath the "Orcus" jam politely, offering texture to an otherwise head-first pound, and recasts the second, title track as a carnival-like bruiser. The wobbly notes swing upward and stall on the final intro chord of "Neptune With Fire", as thunder clouds descend and colossal guitars rush in. The second half of the track, with its reliance on monotone Ozzy burring, loses itself momentarily in the sort of weak revivalism that's the order of the day. But the ship rights itself over a crushing ritardando. Steel strings lurch to a crawling halt, the organ throbs, and after a lengthy bass workout, a tremolo-picked guitar sounds in the distance, slowly dragging the riffs back into the fray with post-rock's shit-just-got-real soberness.
Sure, Ancestors' approach can be slightly formulaic. Groundwork is laid with a teeth-rattling riff, decibels drop for a bass exposition and an interstellar jam sesh, which then builds back out into a grinding roar. But it works well, and makes the scant divergences all the more rewarding. Take for instance, the dusty guitar twang that emerges from the midsection of "Neptune", where Earth's brutal blues pacing and a tree nymph female vocalist make for a witchy Morricone ambiance. It's the sort of staggering moment that makes it easy to come to Neptune With Fire for the mammoth riffs, but stay for the stretches when Ancestors take "far out" even further.
