Rock of Ages: Flower Travellin' Band - "Satori Part 1" (1971)

The 70's had many a great changes in music. Metal and psych rock was one of those movements that was born out of the early 70s and one band from the far east came out and released an amazingly awesome album that a friend of mine turned me onto recently. That band is the Flower Travellin' Band and that album is Satori. The record is druggy and epic with riffs that could end any stoner metal head's life and epic rocking that Black Sabbath could envy. Their music was short lived, but recently they have made it back and finally toured in the USA. "Satori, Pt. 1" is a triumphant blast of sludging riffage with howling moans care of Akira "Joe" Yamanaka. He is Japans answer to Robert Plant. When Yamanaka screams at the beginning of the song, you are sent into a destructive riff that starts slow and then picks up the pace. It is structured much like anything off of Black Sabbath's self titled record. Quite awesome.

The sheer power this band exutes is impressive. The rhythm section pounds forth with massive force while the guitars wail with some effects driven sounds but mostly clean with just some minor distortion. The pacing is slow and heavy with doomy vocals that sway and howl. When the music picks up, the vocals howl and it follows this formula throughout the first movement of Satori. The band has changed a lot since this album. They are back with a new record in 2008 and it's funkier and jazzier than the drugged out doomy stoner rock of Satori, but they still can rock these songs. "Satori Part 1" just shows the raw power the band has and the command of their instruments and their song structures. Epic rock at its best is always something I enjoy, and Flower Travellin' Band produces results.



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