Desert Colossus – Apparatus
Self-released – 2026
Stoner, Rock, Metal, Sludge
Rated: *****
We fell in love with Desert Colossus the moment we heard their Golfshoes track for the very first time. I guess that was some ten years ago. And since then we’ve been lucky to see them live a couple of times and always felt justified in our love for these cats. Cause they’ve always done it all in their own singular way and with a dose of energy, fun and humor that is hard to come by. And now there’s proof once again that they do everything however they want and however they feel like. For they just unceremoniously dropped a bombshell of a record called Apparatus on March 1st without sending out promos beforehand or calling out to a record label for aid with this stunning album. That’s how they roll and have been rolling ever since they put on them Golfshoes…
But this time around it’s serious business, they’ve realized they have their own style, are highly accomplished in what they do and should dispel with trying to make light of it. There’s still fun and humor, textually, musically, but it’s all served with such fervor and zeal, that you can’t help but be entirely swept off your feet from first opening track Hermit till final song Come Forth…
Most of the songs have this stand out vocal part that is bound to drag every listener along, hook, line and sinker. This is the ear worm kind that will surely get the crowd a grooving or the listener at home to scream that sentence out loud. Whether it’s the swing in Sweet Cherries Hang Low, the with Komatsu in mind line “My shit smells savage” during Feel Me Up or the absolute brilliant ending to the chorus of Black Out, “I knew her name and now it’s gone…” And those are just a few of the lyrical, vocalized gems found on Apparatus. Which you know will be there from that very first opening line: “You should see me now, nothing’s in my way” in Hermit. But it has so much more…
For they have upped their game in every aspect, turning the Desert Colossus sound into something leviathan would quiver and quake for! You can almost feel the veil lift, the curtain rise, as Hermit starts with a slow-burning desert vision, which just rolls on towards the horizon on towering waves of fuzz. The riffs stretch wide and heavy, pulsing with hypnotic and powerful intent. The grooves man, they swing big and have you lusting for that swaggering motion and that more ritualistic desert churn. Or take that thick distortion and off center rhythmic approach, during Hermit, the different sections, giving it all that restless spirit edge. In synch with all that opening song wants to be.
Most of it was recorded during the pandemic and afterwards mastered by Karl Daniel Liden, giving the highly dynamic and versatile album that extra push, stomp and cohesive ability. That open aired beginning of Three Eyed Fox, slowly edging through the hallway, before coming to the punch in the face and the carpet pull. And as you fall backwards through the second slow and spacious melody part, you feel a smile creeping through every fiber of your being, because you fall in love with all the creativity displayed. A bit of grunge here or punk there, or a mirror image of Red Fang for an instant.
But on other tracks they let the melody take flight, first drifting through some thick distortion, turning misty as rhythms shift shape and then, as the passages open into spacious elevations, they fly away… Before snapping back with a bite! Entirely immersive, balancing raw grit with so much fun and awe inspiring hooks, this is a Desert Colossus on the absolute top of their game. I cannot wait to see them live again and shout along. Cause over here, next to the record player, with the album on repeat, every run again, another mile deeper into a vast, echoing landscape, that never lets me go, I am starting to feel like that Hermit… But… “I’m not crazy, I will never be alone again…”
(Written by JK)
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Desert Colossus – Eyes And Tongues
Desert Colossus – Desert Colossus
