See the World Given to a One Love Entity (Bonus Track Version)

From the opening moments of See the World Given to a One Love Entity, psychedelic ensemble Guardian Alien make it perfectly clear that the mind-expanding journey the listener is about to embark on is going to be an interesting one. Unfolding over the course of one sprawling, 37-minute-long track, the expansive album finds former Liturgy member and group mastermind Greg Fox delivering an album that, while certainly less abrasive than his work with the avant-black metal group, isn't lacking in experimentation. Rather than slowly bringing the listener into the song, the track explodes into existence in an ecstatic flurry of drums, synth swells, and fuzzed-out guitar before eventually easing up into something more metered and hypnotic. From there, the album takes on a more meditative pacing, feeling at times like it's not so much ebbing and flowing as it is inhaling and exhaling, gradually swelling up and contracting as part of some kind of circular, cyclical rhythm that's too big to observe all at once. This allows the album to maintain a nice flow without the need to break the track up, giving the listener the opportunity to just get lost among the drifting waves created by the shahi baaja as it weaves in and around the more repetitive, atmospheric elements at work on the album. While there are generally a lot of opportunities for the "one long track" albums to go off the rails, Guardian Alien deftly avoid them, creating an album of epic psychedelia that manages to stay engaging without feeling overly indulgent, and comes as a highly recommended piece of headphones listening.