TELEKINETIC YETI

Oh, the riffs. THE RIFFS! It would be easy to get hysterical and evangelical about TELEKINETIC YETI. There is never a shortage of great doom and stoner rock bands, so ageless and undeniable is that musical code. But not every band delivers a consistent stream of riff-centric greatness, and even fewer can compete with a record as uniformly magnificent as "Primordial".

Stylistically speaking, this is squarely rooted in all the usual tricks, tropes and stoner doom cliches, but TELEKINETIC YETI have bigger, better and more stridently hypnotic riffs than just about anyone else we could mention. Filthy and hard-edged like BONGZILLA, relentlessly groovy at any tempo like BONGRIPPER, and grubbily grandiose like CONAN, these songs don't so much tick all boxes as smash them with a weed-stained sledgehammer.

They may not be the only two-man band currently operating in the stoner sphere, but TELEKINETIC YETI are definitely one of the most convincing. This record swings, rocks and pummels in equal amounts, whether expressed via short, belligerent jams like "Ancient Nug" or longer, more languorous pieces like "Ghost Train Haze" and "Stoned Ape Theory". It is also buzzing with the subversive spirit of acid rock, as guitarist and frontman Alex Baumann's endlessly inventive embellishments turn the likes of "Beast" and "Rogue Planet" away from the stoner mainstream and toward a more unbiddable form of HAWKWIND-esque space metal.

Meanwhile, the riffs keep coming and they are nearly all platinum-plated keepers, including the churning, two-note drone riff that propels the closing "Cult of Yeti" to its crumpled, red-eyed conclusion. Reinventing the wheel can wait for another day. "Primordial" goes back to the arcane roots of heavy music and simply turns up the volume, dancing in the flames as the acid kicks in.