Review: Mother Mars-Fossil Fuel Blues

Mother Mars: Fossil Fuel Blues

Ken Elliott

I don’t know exactly how many times listening through the entire 8 tracks of Mother Mars’ Fossil Fuel Blues it took me to reach a point where I knew I was listening to something special, but it wasn’t many. The first time through the album was certainly enjoyable, with heavy, determined, grinding guitars, adept vocals, pounding and insistent rhythms, and melodies that were instantly recognizable as such without eliciting the ‘here we go again’ feeling you get with some new music (usually mainstream rock). No, this was rock that was quickly recognizable as something fun to listen to, worthy of playing as many times as a busy schedule would allow, and I was certainly looking forward to familiarizing myself with it.

After a couple of times through, letting the music move inside my head, move through my core, and gaining a nice level of comfort and familiarity, I began to realize these guys were able to construct something truly meaningful, something that goes beyond simple song structure, style, and melody, something that becomes quite complex and interesting, wonderfully intertwined, diving deep down to the soul of an old rocker wannabe, and stirring those wonderful feelings and emotions associated with speed, with power, with an almost hypnotic and tribalistic experience through the beat and wail of effort and sweat.

The classification of Mother Mars’ music as having "fuzzed-out riffs, stoner grooves, and psychedelic adventures with detours through the valley of doom", as it states on their bandcamp.com page, is definitely an accurate description for the quality music they have concocted. Their songs are as described and more, reflecting an intelligence and a knack for constructing songs worthy of playing, worthy of listening to, and certainly worthy of owning. In 8 tracks they deliver quite the package, with wonderfully lengthy selections (only one song is less than 4 minutes in length, with the average being eight and a half minutes) that take you on an unforgettable and sublime journey through a tableau that is truly . . . rock and roll.



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