Okay, I’ll get it out of the way right now and not refer to it later in the review, well, at least not beyond the first paragraph if I can at all avoid it.  I’ve bloody well enjoyed the music of Alunah from their earliest days, revelling as I did in their superlative British Folk doom, and as a long term fan was saddened by the retirement of Sophie and Dave Day from the band.  Yes, Jake Mason and Dan Burchmore remain the engine room that powers the band but so much has changed.  As such, I’ll do my utter damnedest to just concentrate on ‘Strange Machine’ and frankly there is a hell of lot of good stuff to concentrate on.

Were it not for this Covid bobbins I’d right now be telling you how well the new songs sounded live, having purchased tickets for the Glasgow show when Alunah was due to be touring with Rosalie Cunningham in March.  Instead, I can only say I’m looking forward to hearing any one of these nine tracks played live as the band evolves into a new era.  ‘Strange Machine’ opens with the title track that screams of space rock with the retro-futuristic electronic effects that half had me expecting Hawkwind to blast forth, but rather than Captain Brock’s voice it is the siren cry of Siân Greenaway that powers forth to tell a tale of a journey into space.  This is swiftly followed by the hard rocking stomper that is ‘Over The Hills’ before dark overtones are introduced with the initially melancholic ‘Fade Into Fantasy’, a song that vacillates between the Gothic and the pastoral before midway upping the pace and flying into the realms of the progressive, the aforementioned Miss Greenaway displaying a vocal range that covers more octaves that you’d believe from her normally deep delivery, climbing into a previously unexplored higher register.

‘Broken Stone’ opens with far heavier beats from the bass and drums before Matt Noble brings the riffage with a weightiness that matches the song title, whilst in a case of nominative determinism ‘Psychedelic Expressway’ is a gentle sixties journey back to the first age summer of love, complete with jangling chords and uplifting sonic waves to embrace the listener.  A tonal volte face follows in the music of ‘The Earth Spins’, whilst ‘Silver’ ups the pace to provide a soundtrack to those in need of a workout of their trapezius, and if you don’t find your head moving in time then I don’t know what will stir you.  ‘Teaching Carnal Sins’ starts with a large slice of bluesy guitar work that matches the vocal swagger of the song that cuts in, carried aloft by a pounding rhythm section, before the album is closed off all too soon with inexorable march of ‘Dead Woman Walking.’

‘Strange Machine’ highlights the way that Alunah has evolved over the last two albums, becoming a new and distinct entity from its prior incarnation.  Indeed, the last couple of times I saw them live they concentrated entirely on newer material, a decision I would expect them to stick to especially with the new songs from this excellent album each deserving a place in a live set list.  Indeed, with the lighter, trippier sound, maybe they should try and rename their Facebook address from “alunah.doom” to “alunah.psych”, a name would well suit their sound, as well as reflecting the rather excellent label Heavy Psych Sounds that they have made their new home.

(8.5/10 Spenny)

https://www.facebook.com/alunah.doom

https://heavypsychsoundsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/alunah-strange-machine