Review Summary: It is some great psychedelic rock. Nothing more, nothing less.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets started off their career with
High Visceral Pt.1 and Pt.2 which features some of the best psychedelic rock in the 2010s. Since then, they have released three more albums where they stayed in their comfort zone and not pushed past the sound of the
High Visceral albums.
Fronzoli has carried on this trend of great psychedelic rock by the band that is nothing more but nothing less.
It is evident from the opener,
Nootmare (K.I.L.L.I.n.G) [Meow!], that their ability to write bouncy psych rock riffs has not vanished or even slightly been exhausted.
Fronzoli is filled to the brim with great fuzzy riffs, which is exactly what is to be expected from a Psychedelic Porn Crumpets album. From the endless amount of energy found on
All Aboard the S.S. Sinker, to the great thumping rhythm that the
Dilemma Us from Evil chorus gets to boast, to the straight up craziness throughput
(I’m a Kadaver) Alakazam, there is never a dull, sluggish moment to be found on
Fronzoli. However, one of the issues that plagues these more energetic cuts is the lack of a great, memorable hook. They are all riffs, but little else is there that really keeps you coming back. One outlier here is
Sierra Nevada where the great hooks and the noisy crescendo pushes the track into being an easy highlight.
However, that issue is not to be found on the slower, dreamier cuts.
Cpt. Gravity Mouse Welcome is probably the best track
Fronzoli has to offer. The distorted vocals deliver spacey melodies, in the vein of David Bowie's Space Oddity, and a simple solo that strengthens the track's hypnotic atmosphere. The acoustic cut
Illusions of Grandeur, despite not even reaching two minutes in length, brings further strong vocal melodies that get stuck in your head as it acts as the albums cool down. The album ends with
Mr & Mrs Misanthrope containing a weirdly Britpop-esque chorus and a wall of noise oozing with atmosphere.
Fronzoli will not surprise anyone who has listened to a single Psychedelic Porn Crumpet album before, nor will it convince someone to finally get into them. While it may be the band's strongest release since the
High Visceral it is still very much in their comfort zone. Like the last three albums, it kind of just blends into their discography with a few, albeit great, songs that stand out within the tracklist.
