For some in the music world, the sixties never really ended and this is especially true with Crypt Trip’s Haze Country. Both a throwback and refreshing, Haze Country (Heavy Psych Sounds) lets us sit back and relive the good old days of psychedelics, marijuana and hippie Shenanigans. Even from the album cover: the aesthetic and nostalgic tinged photograph of the band mounted on motorbikes, it really does feel like this record was lost in time and it’s only just been rediscovered in your Dad’s cupboard of old LPs.

What separates Crypt Trip from other nostalgia-tinged acts such as Greta Van Fleet is that Crypt Trip aren’t purely imitating past successful acts and hoping it sells today due to the listening publics forgetfulness of musical history: everything on Haze Country is genuine and, although clearly influenced by that era, it’s not a rip off by any stretch of the imagination.

With long sixties improvisational-inspired instrumental passages, timeless-sounding riffs, gruff raw vocals and genuine musicality, Crypt Trip are the real deal.

Combining Southern Rock characteristics with a psychedelic-infused mentality, songs like ‘Hard Times’, ‘Free Rain’ and ‘Wordshot’, Haze Country balances between being Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Beatles at the same time which a dream-like combination especially when put together in such a unique package.

’16 Ounce Blues’ and ‘Pastures’ sound like they should be playing in an old western saloon perched in the middle of the desert as the sun slowly sets on the barren plains surrounding them. It’s idyllic, to say the least, and the band’s time machine is fully captivating especially within these two songs.

So, if you find yourself in an open top car in the middle of southern USA and you’re looking to have a soundtrack to your escape from your small town, let Crypt Trip’s Haze Country jump in the wagon, drive for hours and never look back.

7 / 10

CALUM FARQUHAR