While I often say that metal is the genre I listen to the most with the extreme side producing some of my favorite albums ever, it’s with rock that are where my roots lie and I know that many others can agree to that. And if you’re anything like me you know that there’s nothing that can compare to some psych rock that can make you feel like you’re surfing cosmic waves past planets and with the stars. I’ve always loved hearing a band that can do it well, and tonight, I found an act that fits that bill perfectly. It’s with the first track of their new album that The Ivory Elephant had my attention, but it’s with the rest of the album that they had me simply hooked.

What I find to be the downfall of any band should they make any missteps when making such music is how they meander for far too long. That can be a real strong point of any album given it knows when to end so that the listener isn’t literally falling asleep waiting for a climax that feels like will never come. But, fortunately, that’s an occasion I rarely run into, and The Ivory Elephant is far from different as their talent with the style is nothing to scoff at with their performance throughout all of “Stoneface” being worthy enough to share stages with the likes of Black Space Riders or even Elder. A bold statement, but I mean it all the way. It’s with the ten gripping tracks that The Ivory Elephants provides us with here bring an absolutely beautiful sound that brings together the very closely related worlds of psych rock and heavy blues to produce an ethereal texture that feels as though you’re floating through space dust while simultaneously having crunchy fuzz-filled riffs that are no less than satisfying from the first note. That allows “Stoneface” to immediately become a meditative record that eventually becomes quite organic and diverse as one track proceeds to the next with The Ivory Elephant expertly dodging the unfortunate circumstance of their sound becoming stale through repetition. It all flows like a pristine river coming down the mountain with its own branches that lead beautifully to more cascading rivulets through colorful woods or roaring waterfalls down high cliffs, and The Ivory Elephant couldn’t have encapsulated such a concept any more perfect than they did with “Stoneface” in all of its astonishing aural beauty.

Being able to lose yourself in an album as it proceeds to bend the very fabric of reality is a pleasure like very few others, and to say that The Ivory Elephant accomplished that euphoria with this album would be to not give it nearly enough credit. From the intoxicating beginning to rewarding end, there isn’t a single thing about “Stoneface” that doesn’t bring absolute glory to the realm of psychedelic rock and its contemporaries.

“Stoneface” releases on July 26th!

LISTEN to “Stoneface” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE The Ivory Elephant on Facebook here.