Turin visionaries Rama are often described as Desert Rock, but right from their self-titled 2015 EP (Self-Released) there was evidence of a deeper, simmering destiny. Debut album Everything Is One (Today/Brigante Records) furthers this cause, with elements of earthen fire and melodic sweetness enlivening that Stoner background.
The longest tolling of a bell is the prologue to opener ‘Between The Ashes Of Silence’, a thrumming bassline greasing the path for a Progressive expanse of care, beauty, and a building of anger which explodes into a full-blooded passion before subsiding into hypnotic, Meditteranean flavoured chants. The rhythmic, cascading descent is given true meaning with whispered self-deprecation before sensitive howls build into a foul, frenetic coda.
The honeyed strains of the ensuing ‘Through The Doors Of Knowledge’ blends the more sinister moments of The Doors with the lazy harmonics of The Dandy Warhols, choral vocals full of Madchester spirit while carrying a pulsating rhythm. This eventually swells into a speedier, monstrous undercurrent but a relaxed Hippy-Blues drift tempers this until the whole crashes into wonderful crescendo.
There’s an undeniable Roman creativity enhancing each song on the album, despite an often structured progression. ‘Before The First Sunrise’ travels through multiple movements before settling at a place of rest, lilting harmonies introducing a gentle lull before a Charlatans-infused explosion carries us to a resonant coda. The early stages of the penultimate ‘TBD’ possess an Arabic seductiveness, Herod Antipas being bewitched by Salome until a fizzing fire wakens imagination into reality. Crushing riffs are given life by a laconic vocal, the hypnotic swell instilling an almost religious passion before rudely insulting it: first in a Deathly eruption, then a Green Day-esque joyousness. A delicate drift through the cosmos is followed by a sudden euphoria, then a denouement of lush serenity which leads nicely into closr ‘Outro’: a profound meander through acoustic chords and an apt way to finish a quite spiritual journey.
It isn’t really surprising to find that a Stoner outfit from Italy are capable of adding something different to the template, but Rama’s diverse influences combine to really pique the emotions. Everything Is One is a damn fine first album which shows serious promise for the future.
7 / 10
PAUL QUINN