Pitchfork

Whatever changes have occurred in the galaxy of Acid Mothers Temple, the group has remained perpetually active. So in 2005, when various departures and line-up changes finally prompted group leader Kawabata Makoto to put the project Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. on indefinite hiatus, the last thing to expect from him was prolonged silence. And true to form, Makoto quickly reloaded his supporting cast and unleashed his new "hellchild," the Cosmic Inferno, and continued to build upon what is already one of the most unruly catalogs in existence.

Even with AMT's hell-bent release schedule, however, Makoto has always seen the wisdom in making the occasional grand statement. And by all earmarks, the massive IAO Chant From the Cosmic Inferno would appear to be just such a momentous occasion. Recorded as a tribute to the late Pierre Moerlen of the hippie art-rock collective Gong, IAO Chant consists of a single 51-minute track, the monumental "Om Riff From the Cosmic Inferno". Part Vision Creation Newsun trance and part Hawkwind celestial blast furnace, this piece provides a perfect showcase for the Cosmic Inferno's ferocious revamped rhythm section of bassist Tabata Mitsuru (formerly of Zeni Geva) and dual drummers Shimura Koji (White Heaven) and Okano Futoshi.

As with any epic work, the question isn't how long this song is but how long it feels-- and the further the listener can last before starting to glance impatiently at the clock, the better. In that regard IAO Chant is a smashing success-- every time I've listened, the track has been well into its second half before I'm tempted to sneak a peek at the stopwatch. Following a brief droning intro, the streamlined quintet lock their teeth intractably into the "Om Riff" and thrash it with a potent, single-minded focus not seen on an AMT release since their mesmeric 2002 take on Terry Riley's In C. Formidable as the rhythm section is, Makoto and electronics chief Higashi Hiroshi are still able to cover every available surface, their head-melting distortion suspended overhead like white-hot stalactites. Like many previous AMT studio offerings, one wishes that the bottom end was given a bit more authority in the mix, but there are few problems in the production that can't be corrected by liberally increasing the volume.

Even grainier is the recording quality of Cosmic Funeral Route 666, a limited edition studio album released to coincide with the Cosmic Inferno's 2005 European tour. This album again finds AMT taking the longview on the pixilated 38-minute title track, but unlike the vibrant unity of "Om Riff", here each member of the collective seems eager to stretch the free-form music in an opposing direction. As such it covers a wider variety of terrain, layered heavily with the group's familiar Roger Corman sci-fi sound effects, and featuring a lengthy folkish drone interlude supplied by Makoto's bouzouki and tambura. As counterbalance to this extended interstellar ramble, the album also includes the brief, raging "Phantom Fire Ball", a Blue Cheer-inspired roar that seemingly intends to beat Boris or Comets on Fire at their own noisy game. It's on this full-throttled outburst that the distance between the Cosmic Inferno and past Acid Mothers Temple incarnations seems the widest. And amid reports that Makoto plans to return The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. to full operation later in 2006, one can only hope that he'll also find time to fit further sessions with the rowdier, more propulsive Cosmic Inferno into his already overbooked schedule.