The well-known British experimental psychedelic rock/noise rock/stoner band Hey Colossus has released a large number of great albums through the years. One of the albums that stands out among their quite vast discography is ''Happy Birthday'' - an album they released back in 2008. The album is somewhat different from their newer albums like ''Radio Static High'', as it tends to be heavier in a sense that it leans more towards stoner metal/sludge/noise rock than the aforementioned album.
The album starts off with some fine sludgy and psychedelic stoner metal via a track titled ''War Crows'' - a track that works like a mixture of heavy krautish psychedelia and sludgy stoner metal in the vein of Eyehategod or Buzzoven. The following track ''Tight Collar'' leans more towards slow tempo stoner doom reminiscent of the likes of Electric Wizard, Sloath and other similar bands. ''Are Nice Men'' on the other hand is a track that packs some rather experimental murky noise rock infused drones, while ''Fire The Tamborine'' again offers some fast paced stoner psychedelia with some uncanny vocals. The fifth track ''Are Coming To Kill You All'' almost feels like a galloping semi lo-fi sludge horse gathering pace, while both parts of ''Permanent Vacation'' pack some experimental noise rock material, with the second part reminding some strange Saudi Arabian noise-rock tracks from Sound of Ruby as far as the vocals department is concerned. The longest track of the album ''Overlord Rapture In Vines Part 9'' is also the last track of the album, and this one is pretty much all about some heavy fast paced sludgy psychedelia from start to finish.
All in all ''Happy Birthday'' is probably one of the more interesting Hey Colossus releases and sums up their earlier material pretty well. Anyone who is into the mixture of sludgy stoner metal and krauty psychedelia will probably dig this album or parts of this album at least.
Some related links:
Bandcamp: https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/happy-birthday
