THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION

Neath A Shin Ei Sun

SELF-RELEASED Sydney psych rock quartet power through their palette While official intel on this Sydney four-piece may be scant, that the self-professed “threat to decency”, fronted by Imperial Priestess Screaming Loz Sutch, is said to have grown from

“dive bars and biker clubhouses” should tell you most of what you need to know. The Neptune Power Federation’s approach is scattershot. There’s polished hard rock, psychedelic noodling, face-melting solos, stirring spoken word interludes, shimmering choirs and gruff growling – often all within the space of a single song. Loz’s bombastic vocals channel Ann Wilson at the height of her power, while the album’s dosed with a sense of drama more befitting of musical theatre than a metal album – think more Rocky Horror than horror rock. The album’s experiments and explorations are thrilling and bewildering in equal measure, but ultimately, there’s too much going on here for this to work as a coherent whole.

6 FOR FANS OF: DEVIN TOWNSEND, MEAT LOAF, GIRLSCHOOL

BRIONY EDWARDS