Black Space Riders

We Have Been Here Before

CARGO Let’s get real gone for a change.

Over the years, Germanic starstreakers Black Space Riders have slowly and methodically evolved from laser-blasting stoner rock warriors to post-punky progmetal explorers willing to wander wherever their muse leads them.

We Have Been Here Before is the band’s seventh album and definitely their most adventurous. Certainly there are moments that hark back to the band’s bombastic salad days:

AAAAAA AAAAARRRRR RGGGH is a wallop of dope-metal guitars and acid-tongued grunge;

Leaving The Hill is pleasantly woozy space rock; Worlds Collide Dans Ma Tete is all amps-to-11 crunch. So it rocks when it has to. But most of the album is dedicated to more nuanced sounds. The smooth, haunting

This Flow is reminiscent of Ian Astbury’s down-tempo electronica period (remember that?); Trapped In An Endless

Loop is part alt.metal, part spazzy new wave; bracing single

Fear No More is sorta like The Polyphonic Spree in space. You get the idea. It’s out there, man.