Nebula, Heavy Psych

“Retro” has become a bad word in the musical world. First we had the ’70s stoner bands, the neo-thrash bands, and the revival of glam. So what’s a band like Nebula supposed to do, when they were retro before retro was a cool, and subsequently uncool, thing to be?

Their newest release, Heavy Psych, attempts to get one foot outside of their psychedelic/stoner box while keeping a Birkenstock-wearing one safely still in. While it does retain many of the standards and trademarks of said genre, what accompanies the psych are some slivers of — gasp! — pop.

This is not to say that they are trying to become something akin to Shinedown (oh, the horror…). What they have done, instead, is taken off the fuzzed-out edges and allowed some of the songs to breathe.

[Insert bong or smoking joke here.]

Listen to “The Dagger” or “The Other Side,” and the guitars and vocals sound a lot cleaner, and the organ gives it a nice feel. Now, long-time fans shouldn’t fret too much, as the back half of the album will make them feel like Spicoli and friends climbing out of their van in Fast Times and Ridgemont High. “Dude that’s my skull!”

“Dream Submarine” and “Little Yellow Pill” should make the hashers happy just on name alone. Musically, the guitars distortion gets cranked, vocals get fuzzed up, and structure gives way to feel.

Heavy Psych is not two halves of a whole, as the album flows easily even with the new influences. While some may argue that the “heavy” of Heavy Psych is lacking, what’s present is a band that’s learned that knobs go two ways for a reason.