Atomic Church

Even if this was a document of abysmal, trite stoner rock riffs and posturing — which it's not — the disc is packaged with such beauty and care as to render that nearly inconsequential. The cover art is a well-appointed painting reminiscent of Santana's Abraxas. Atomic Church positively gushes drugged-out sheets of psychedelic guitar, fuzzed-out, wah-driven riffs; in short, it bubbles up as textbook neo-stoner rock of the Blue Cheer school. To Roachpowder's credit, they have proven their ability to integrate other sound sources fairly well — theremin, keyboards, harp — and they've done it tastefully. This is a solid album by this Swedish quartet; the songs are well paced, well executed, well recorded. With occasional acoustic passages, Atomic Church is also dynamic in range. Does it bow down to worship Blue Cheer, Captain Beyond, and a host of other psychedelic riff-rockers before it? But of course. This is, after all, the atomic church.