Cosmiclava where the lava flows

ANTROBUS were formed in early '71 when Britain's heavy progressive rock underground scene was in full flight. The band exsisted for only one year, and they had no real rehearsel place and that's hard to believe while listening to the nine tracks that were never offical released. They are playing on an amazingly high standard and got accomplished song-writing abilities.Like some of their comrades, they are using also flute and organ but the songs are more focused on heavy riffs and bluesy vocals. A hard-driving rock approach, similiar to that of Stray mixed with Alice Cooper Band and early Pentagram, was adopted but the ability to contrast their sound with classy melodic harmonies is apparent too. And when ANTROBUS are playing hard and heavy, they were just an awesome force. Mixed up with a few sound-effects and a lot of guitarwork, this band had created an effective creepy heavy ass-kickin' sound in their short lifetime. The sound quality isn't high fidelity, but good enough for an enjoyable listening and sometimes I wonder, that this recordings are dated back from the early 70's, due to their refreshing energy.

The second band on this split-CD is THE FLYING HAT BAND. This was the group where Glen Tipton played, before he left to join Judas Priest. TFHB exsisted only for a short time and the featured four songs are dated back to '74. The songs are also released here for the very first time,so that one can listen to some ferocious guitar leads and intense riffing. But this band doesn't sound like a Priest forerunner. "Lost Time" is fine acoustic bluesy song, with a slight Latino vibe, while "Reaching for the Stars" got a groovy rythm-line and the album closes with exsessive guitars in "Coming of the Lord". This powerful outfit weren't around long enough to gain the respect that the energy and drive of their music demanded. They've got the chance to record an album for a proposed LP on the WWA label and had entered a London studio where they began recording songs. But due to unknown resons, this album was never released. "Buried Together" comes with a very doomy cover-artwork (remember "Die Healing"?) and if you're discovering this disc somewhere than get it. My personal winners are the heavy ANTROBUS,but TFHB have also their highlights.This CD was release between the German re-issue label SPM International , who have also re-released bands as Groundhogs, Janus, Bodkin, T2 and more, and the English label World Wide Records.

(KK)