Causa Sui - Free Ride (2018 Edition)

1. Free Ride 2. Lotus 3. White Sun 4. Passing Breeze 5. Top Of The Hill 6. Flowers Of Eventide 7. Newborn Road 8. El Paraiso (Live at Roadburn)

Imagine a tidal wave sweeping up from the 1960s through the 1970s; then cresting in the 1990s before finally crashing on a present shore – that's what Causa Sui's ”Free Ride” sounds like. This is the 'heavy psych' LP of the Causa Sui catalogue – one out of only two albums they recorded with a lead singer, this is most direct-sounding collection of tracks the band has done to date. You'll find the sonic experimentation and curious song structures that also defines later Causa Sui records (just listen to those echo-treated flutes in ”Passing Breeze”), but what really ties this record together is an unashamed appreciation of the Grande Rock of the previous four decades. One can literally feel how the young lads has been absorbing endless amounts of Blue Cheer, Zeppelin, Mudhoney, Sabbath and Kyuss before cooking up these seven tracks.

There's no shortage of killer riffs and Bonham-esque grooves. The culmination is the epic breathtaking acid-rock finale that takes up the ENTIRE second platter: the 15-minute ”Newborn Road” and the 20-minute extended live version of the band's signature track ”El Paraiso” - captured in front of a mesmerized crowd at Roadburn on the very day Free Ride was released. It's impossible not feel swept away by the Hendrixian glory of these two cuts, as they fly from tranquil noodlings to the most thunderous peaks. This is the kind of album where you drop the needle and ride it all the way to the end, as if overwhelmed by an awesome natural force.