UMUR
"Primordial" is the second full-length studio album by US stoner/doom metal act Telekinetic Yeti. The album was released through Tee Pee Records in July 2022. It´s the successor to "Abominable" from March 2017 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Anthony Dreyer was fired in 2019 and guitarist/vocalist Alex Baumann has instead hired Rockwel Heim to fill his place. So the duo format is continued on "Primordial" which again features no bass. Just drums, guitars (downtuned 7-strong guitar), and vocals. The firing of Dreyer was quite dramatic as Dreyer initially refused to stop using the Telekinetic Yeti name, and therefore two versions of the band existed until Dreyer opted to rename his version of the band Twin Wizard.
Stylistically the material on "Primordial" continues the heavy and psychadelic tinged stoner metal of the debut album. Despite no featuring any bass "Primordial" is a very heavy release featuring driving organic beats, and ultra heavy stoner metal riffs, and a varity of psychadelic guitar effects. The vocals are sparse, and when they occur they are relatively low in the mix distorted shouting. I´m slightly reminded of Electric Wizard when the vocals appear.
"Primordial" features a heavy and organic sounding production, where the guitar is front, left, right, and center and the drums sometimes feel like they are an afterthought. They are simply buried in the fuzzy heavy guitar riffs. "Primordial" is a relatively well composed release, although the tracks aren´t the most memorable and almost all tracks feature the same basic elements (and some are a bit repetitive in their psychadelic haze). There´s something incredibly authentic and organic about the way the band play and it´s their greatest strength, but they could reach the sky with some more memorable songwriting and stronger vocals. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.