Featuring two members who played in Solarfeast with ex-Kyuss bassist Chris Cockrell, and with their roots firmly planted in the California desert, Hornss have a pretty good grasp on the fundamentals of the scene.
Luckily they haven’t chosen to churn out desert rock-by-numbers, going for a punk’n’roll charge that’s as much about the rollicking stomp of Red Fang as it is the crusty lo-fi crackle of Electric Wizard. Telepath isn’t exactly full of hits but what it lacks in memorability it makes up for with bristling psychedelic sounds such as the screechy, slidey St Genevieve and the kooky Prince Of A Thousand Enemies, while at the other end the uptempo The Black Albatross is suffused with speed and energy. Without compromising their punk ethic they’ve managed to make their music more exploratory thanks to the production knowhow of Tim Green, making this more layered than 2014’s No Blood, No Sympathy. By stitching together Hawkwind and Sabbath influences, without overdoing any of the individual elements, Telepath has a cohesive and spirited flow.
