Amon Acid – Cosmogony

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AMON ACID takes us on a cosmic Psych Doom trip with their latest full-length album, “Cosmogony.” Released on November 18, 2022 via Regain Records, the album spans a daunting 63 minutes and treats us to nine mind-blowing tracks. The band has said they are lovers of sci-fi and cite the great but often overlooked Polish master, Stanislaw Lem, and, of course, Phillip K Dick as their favs. And while these two never hit it off during their short sojourns on our plane, their mix of sci-fi and ontology have made an impact on the world. AMON ACID’s music seems to operate in that same nexus of mysticism and science with whole bunch of metal involved. In the case of Lem and PKD, the metal came in the form of spaceships, robotics, and simulacrums—in the case of AMON ACID, the metal is sonic.

The core of the band is duo Sarantis Charvas and Briony Charvas with other members drifting in and out—Smith on this album and John Sutcliffe on the previous releases. Their style is fuzz-laden doom with prominent Eastern accents. Sarantis’s vocals are clean and dronish, matching the sustained, down-tuned riffs and slow tempo rhythm.

Thematically, the album explores the origins of the universe but less from an astrophysical perspective and more from a metaphysical. So it’s a mix of cosmological figures and archetypes—"Hyperion,” “Demon Rider,” “Ethereal Mother”; theoretical physics—“Parallel Realms” and “Demolition Wave”; ancient writings, “Nag Hammandi” (presumably playing off the Nag Hammadi Library); and good old psychedelics “ Mandragoras.”

Personally, I find most Eastern flourishes, musically speaking, to sound very similar—like it was all produced by the same sitar-bending dude from back when John, Paul, George, and Ringo hid out in India. All that is to say, there is fuzzy Eastern reverb buzz that weaves throughout the album like Timothy Leary driving in LA traffic. For me, it’s enough for one album. And if amped up sitars aren’t your thing, don’t be put off—“Cosmogony” has plenty of distorted riffs and percussive assaults to offset the strange.

Standout tracks are “Parallel Realm,” “Hyperion,” and “Mandragoras.” I’m glad to report there are no spoken word narratives or space-filling interludes. While I did find some of the more Experimental tracks like “Nag Hammandi” and “Ethereal Mother” a bit tiresome, they still held my attention well enough.

All the tracks are all on the longish side—the shortest clocking in over four minutes—but they lean to the more explorative and expansive side than Progish and indulgent. The cover art by Folie Art & Design is surprisingly rudimentary though befitting—black and white with simple but powerful iconography, namely three crescent moons (two waxing, one waning) and an ouroboros framing up an all-seeing eye.

Altogether, “Cosmogony” bears repeating. The phases and movements parsed throughout the nine tracks seem to say different things when approached from different listening experiences . . . whether you’re disassociating from the world during a run, marinating with a glass of absinthe and nestled in headphones, or cruising through the night skies with Jesus on the dashboard. If Doom, Psych, or Stoner is your thing, I recommend giving this bad boy a listen.

Songwriting: 8
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 7
Production: 7