4 out of 5

Label: Vicious Circle

Produced by: Benjamin Mandeau

Mars Red Sky’s brand of stoner rock already stands out from a pretty crowded scene, often by not indulging. They’re not necessarily steeped in epic songs or exploding solos, or a grooving low-end. They moderate: they apply the riffage to something a little more straightforward and “lighter” than the usual stoner fare, and by doing so, can really nail juxtapositions of heft when needed.

This approach already works well within the group’s own dynamics, and by pairing with vocalist Queen Of The Meadows – who can often be found fronting folkier acoustic fare – MRS is able to further explore the concept, to really satisfying, toe-tapping, melody-stuck-in-yer-head results.

The cleanliness of Queen’s vocals are not wholly different from Mars’ usual sound, but it seems to allow for more focus on each part of the puzzle – the music and the singing – giving us interesting ways in which they play together and play off of each other. I can’t quite claim to get much of the narrative in the lyrics that’s suggested on the bandcamp page, but the individual phrases that stick out do create enough of a mood through imagery to add to the immersiveness.

On the other hand, all of this seems to have allowed MRS to indulge a bit where they’d maybe avoided indulging before, making opener Maps of Inferno’s 7-minutes hit some slow points. It’s interesting then that we’re given a “shortcut” version that’s less than 5-minutes, and is arguably better – if not the perfect version. Second track Out at Large sticks to this pace (5.5 minutes) and is equally good, making this two-song EP an excellent side-step to a similar but different sound in MRS’ catalogue.