With exceedingly long tracks – with the exception of the third, that runs for a little more than five minutes – Age of Change is a good stoner rock album, although its laziness, eventually, begins to leave you tired and exasperated. With tracks that inevitably fall into monotony, for being too slow or too long, this album does have on its heart all the concepts of the genre, although its core elements – the slow sonorous digression and the ecstatic musical uniformity – here are taken to an hallucinatory extreme, which makes this album being too boring, all the way through.
Of course, musical tastes have to be taken into consideration. If you really like the most underrated and despised elements of stoner rock, and really appreciates the abrasive slowness present in albums like Age of Change, you may like this album. If not, this album will sound boring to you, no more, nor less. Although the technical aspects of the work are decent – and the band really seems to be passionate about the genre – the excessive calmness presented on the songs will make you sleep rapidly. And I am not saying that this is bad – it is all a matter of taste. While they are really competent at their style, managing to execute a satisfactory work on the genre, this is the type of music that makes you wonder what kind of relevance a sound like this expects to achieve.
With slow rhythms interleaved with breaking up and intermittent melodies, Age of Change is a curious album, but does more to make you sleep than helping you on staying awake.
Interesting to listen, if the genre by any chance captures your attention, Age of Change, although surreal and transcendental in some moments, will hardly be noticeable. Too calm, too long and too exasperating – although at the same time, demands a very attentive listening – is a curious exemplar of the genre, for sure. But does not qualify as a great work, nor a relevant record. Destined for a more selective audience, Age of Change is a decent stoner rock album, but unfortunately, more boring than good.
Wagner