Kyle Shutt- Doom Side Of The Moon
28th November 2017The best band in the world have been dragged through countless contexts over the years. Korn have covered Another Brick In The Wall, See Emily Play has been covered by David Bowie, and now The Sword guitarist Kyle Shutt has gathered his many talented friends to cover the entirety of what is regarded by many as the best album of all time: 1973ās Dark Side Of The Moon.
It gets off to an interesting start, āSpeak To Meā, Nick Masons only solo contribution to the album, is reimagined as essentially a collage of experimental sound. Some of the features of the original are sort of in there, but thereās no way youād know if you couldnāt see the album title in front of you. āBreatheā then starts with a gentle acoustic guitar, and almost no doom-based features, essentially becoming quite a nice cover. Alex Marreroās voice suits the tone perfectly, and the gentle effects and delicate production almost make you forget itās a doom cover. Until it becomes hauntingly obvious. Around the 3 minute mark, the very good cover is ruined by a babble of drum kit smashing and random instrumental crashing. Maybe thatās the vibe they were going for, but they just did not pull it off.
āOn The Runā sticks fairly closely to its source material, with a lot of extraneous sounds filling in the texture, which builds up to another cluster of noise to end. āTimeā is reimagined successfully, with the roto-tom solo becoming heavier, the chords being presented in a very clever combination of held and chugged, and itās genuinely really good. The saxophone filling in gaps during the chorus works perfectly and they donāt ruin it with a cacophony of noise at the end. Replacing Clare Torryās astonishing vocal performance on āThe Great Gig In The Skyā is Jason Freyās saxophone solo. While the spirit of the original doesnāt really ring through, itās still very satisfying. They also manage to build into an explosion of distorted sound in a quite pleasing way on this track, with a crescendo of feedback slowly engulfing the track.
āMoneyā is essentially a note for note rock cover. Itās not bad, but not spellbinding, and definitely not the most imaginative of work in comparison to the rest of the album. The most important thing to say about āUs And Themā, is that the original is the most beautifully produced track in history. Listen to the transition from verse to chorus with good headphones and every single time without fail, you will get goosebumps. Its texture and wall of sound is simply astonishing. While Kyle Shutt manages to give the track an inventive twist, including mixing up some of the harmony, the explosion into the thick texture is pretty disappointing, with just some crunchy chords and an annoying saxophone note filling it out.
āAny Colour You Likeā is strange filler even on the original album, but here itās turned into a bizarre jam, as opposed to the psychedelic synth battle of 1973. The croaky, intense delivery of āBrain Damageā is another highlight, with its unique, industrial approach bringing a certain imaginative individuality to the album. The harmony in the incredibly catchy chorus is also done very well, keeping just the right amount of influence from the original. āEclipseā rounds the album off with a huge sound, albeit not making the most of that final resolution.
For a Pink Floyd cover, itās good. Matching the incredible sound of the band is a hard task, and this album gets halfway there. There are standout moments, such as the imaginative changes to the harmony in āUs And Themā and the clever changes to āTimeā, but there are some low moments, such as the destruction of a beautiful cover of āBreatheā with annoying noise at the end. āDoomā is a misleading word to use, as it doesnāt really reach the droning heights of Electric Wizard, preferring to flutter slightly more safely around the edges, and the attempts at giving the album its ādoomā title are the worst parts of the experience. However, I love Pink Floyd beyond description, and to hear something that (in general) does them justice makes me very, very happy.
Score 7.5/10
Track Listing:
- Speak To Me
- Breathe
- On the Run
- Time
- The Great Gig In The Sky
- Money
- Us And Them
- Any Colour You Like
- Brain Damage
- Eclipse
Record Label ā Music Theories Recordings
Release Date- 8th December 2017
For Fans Of- Pink Floyd, Orange Goblin
For all things Kyle Shutt & The Sword click HERE & to purchase the album click HERE