Wucan - Reap the Storm. 2017 Germany

"This one took awhile to penetrate. Two full listens over 2 nights - with the always illuminating craft beer by my side - yielded nothing but confusion. OK - need to take this one to the car where I'm sober-as-a-judge and hyper critical. Most albums don't survive that. This one did." Part 2: Germany edition. Like the Superfjord album, Wucan provides a difficult-to-consume-on-one-listen extravaganza. And like Superfjord, Wucan provides a panoptic view of music, this time it's with a German focus, which explains why I probably enjoyed it more overall. Wucan are lead by Francis Tobolsky, and her vocals are a major part of the sound, along with her trusty flute. In this way, Wucan could be looked at as a German version of Blood Ceremony. But no, it's certainly not that, and Black Sabbath isn't really an influence here. Rather it's the classic Krautrock sound of the early 70s. With the strong feminine presence, Frumpy leaps to the front, though musically perhaps first album Tomorrow's Gift is more accurate. But then there's this early era 1980 NWOBHM style found on a couple of tracks. And a lengthy cosmic Krautrock piece, some Blues Pills like work, and even some Pilz label psychedelic folk. Most tracks are in English, but some are in German. So as you can tell, it's more of a compendium of the best of German progressive rock. In this way they're more like the 70s group Metropolis, or even the more modern Polytoxicomane Philharmonie. Yea, I'm name dropping like crazy here. And that's why it takes so long to grasp the album. Keyboards definitely take a backseat, and the guitars are driving the bus. Oddly there isn't anything extraordinary about Reap the Storm, despite all the great references. Perhaps it's too measured and studied, but all the same, if the bands above check in to your personal motel, then certainly Reap the Storm isn't to be missed.

Ownership: CD: 2017 Hansel & Gretel. Comes in a fine digipak with an informational booklet.