Genre: Stoner rock/Psychedelic blues/Indian raga
The German trio announced that they are putting their music career on hold in order to take a break or even stop working together. Before doing so, however, Samsara Blues Experiment came out with an EP that will launch you into another galaxy and take that ride with you.
When I came across End Of Forever the first thing that caught my eye was the artwork on the cover done by Jessica Rassi. Let’s take a look inside too!
The first song, Second Birth, is the longest track on the whole EP. Right from the start you could imagine travelling by a spaceship or looking at the galaxy form a whole new point of view. The guitars and drums create a nice atmosphere, which is deepened by the keyboards. In the fifth minute and part of the sixth minute of this masterpiece, you can notice some Pink Floyd vibes, which aren’t at all surprising since Pink Floyd was and will always be one of the biggest influences on the neo-psychedelic genre. The second half of this song becomes much more definite, it’s like the track is slowly forming and taking a more solid form. It is not as atmospheric anymore, it travels through air and fills your head. The bass is absolutely worth paying attention to.
The second track, Massive Passive is a much faster one and the vocals play a bigger part in it. It starts off small and soft and with time this too grows to be an absolute masterpiece. The lyrics suggest that this is nothing less than a love song of some sort. The main idea is this: our world became a cruel, one you cannot change, in the past you had security and people to turn to despite the fact that everybody around you seemed crazy, but now technology came between people and healthy relationships, even with yourself. Depressing, isn’t it? If not else, this song will absolutely remind you to do a social media detox if possible.
“And when I was scared I knew I still had you, I had you to turn to while everyone around us had gone insane.”
Well let’s cheer up a bit, in the EP’s middle you can find a track that will bring hope to the melancholy of the last song. Southern Sunset is -no doubt- a love song. Featuring elements of nature, the lyrics paints a moving picture of a woman and a relationship. Not letting the previous song sadden you, it states that you can disconnect from reality and create your own world without insecurities and worries, so let’s do just that while listening to Peter’s vocals!
The next song is also the title of the EP. This track is a less positive one, discussing the popular psychedelic rock topic of realities and dreams. At about the three and a half minute mark, a very interesting lineup of instruments starts building on each other. The guitar solo is nothing less than immaculate.
Orchid Annie on the other hand, is a slower and somewhat more positive track. When reading the lyrics, a feeling of bittersweetness rises and stays till the end of the song. At about 3 minutes nearly every instrument used plays a different melody creating an outstanding composition. At 4:35 there is a change of pace and melody out of nowhere, which makes you think and slowly makes its way to your soul. It becomes faster and more desperate by the minute. There are solos in this song but my descriptions really could not do justice to them, please listen to the whole thing as this is, in my opinion, one of the more intricate songs of Samsara Blues Experiment.
Orchid Annie is technically the last song on the EP but there is one more bonus track, Jumbo Mumbo Jumbo. A cathartic instrumental jamming which will indeed be stuck in your head for the rest of the week. It is less of a wishful goodbye, like Orchid Annie, but it is undoubtedly a worthy end. The melody of End Of Forever comes back for another appearance.
Samsara Blues Experiment most likely knew that this was going to be their last album for a while so personally I take this track as a goodbye they played with full force.
In conclusion, End Of Forever is an emotional roller-coaster that is absolutely worth taking. Samsara Blues Experiment will be missed but the music they have given to us will make up for their absence.
Listen to End Of Forever here: