Howlin Rain - Magnificent Fiend
Birdman Records

There is such a thing as balance, and in music, it’s critical. Deafening vocals singing convoluted lyrics can drown out even the most well-crafted and intricate melodies. The main flaw in Magnificent Fiend, the second album by southern California psychedelic rock /blues sextet Howlin Rain, is ironically enough the band’s founder and vocalist. Ethan Miller’s lyrics are a good effort in all possible types of figurative language, but after a while there are just too many images clumsily stitched together yielding no big picture. Some tracks work thanks to their relative simplicity, like Nomads and El Rey, about songwriter’s block and moral corruption, respectively. But for the most part, the songs’ lyrics are an overdone exercise in otherworldly allegories that make the finishing result intangible.

All this is sung in Miller’s crashing roar, as if the content itself wasn’t jumbled enough. It is not the kind of howl that makes the listener feel the music, but rather want to turn it down. Dancers At The End Of Time, the first track after an instrumental prelude, starts off promisingly with an explosive Hammond organ and guitar-driven intro, but the decibel level gets too high when the vocals come thundering in.

Behind it all is excellent music, however. There are six people in this band, but the excess, in this respect, is good. Rich guitar riffs and the organ’s presence throughout the album are reminiscent of late 60s/early 70s psychedelic rock along the lines of Vanilla Fudge. Lengthy and frequent guitar solos on top of the organ are a delight and the multi-layered instrumentation is flawless (the last two minutes of Goodbye Ruby are brilliant).

The music should remain the same. In fact, it could stand alone. But either the lyrics or the vocals definitely need some tranquilizing. Top quality work is within the band’s grasp, if only they could let go of the one too many layers drowning their potential.

Christina Cromeyer Dieke