Wucan – Axioms

 

 

Wucan – Axioms
Long Branch Records – 2025
Rock, Hard, Prog, Seventies
Rated: ***

The eighties and seventies surge, sliced through by an opening flute and then immediately the thunder of bass and drums. The guitars join in and then something strange happens. For a moment you wonder if the mix has gone array and the vocals got lost somewhere in there. But no, this is the way Wucan vocalist Francis Tobolsky sings. It’s all over the place and sometimes seems to skirt the corners of control or even the pitch of hearing. Both low and high. It’s wondrous but it might take a moment to get used to it. Although after hearing the full album Axioms, you will come to realize that the main wobble lies in opening Spectres of Fear and that perhaps the terror and anxiety are translated in that way as well. But yes, the vocals, they are different and even get a German treatment on Holz Auf Holz. And as you are enjoying Axioms and you think Wucan is navigating safely through the waters of the seventies hardrock and prog, they produce some electronic elements, which give the composition a touch of space and krautrock. For even though the use of flute will remind of Focus and Jethro Tull, the Wucan four throw entirely different curveballs. Bombastic or danceable, they can move through all avenues with a stage conquering attitude. And then there’s the, despite the subject, very soulful disco tune Wicked, Sick and Twisted. Which, like the KTNSAX track, is as funky as they come in the heavy landscape… Well, if this fourth Wucan album is offered up as a starting point for further diving into earlier Wucan albums and all that might come in the future, it defies rebuttal. And the proof lies within all eight songs… 

(Written by JK)

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