This low key release (cassette and Bandcamp only) from Aussie newcomers Potion is a trailer heavy psychedelic cocktail but don’t expect to find any multi-coloured umbrellas poking out the top. Heaviness rating is spiked sharply upwards and the grooves will send you reeling as if caught in a wind tunnel.
First track ‘Dead Mountain’ ruffles feathers from the off with the kind of painful screeched feedback sure to invoke a stampede to the doors at a convention of tinnitus sufferers. Once the roll of the drums come into view to create a solid foundation, Potion then set about unravelling a spiralling rhythmic doom carpet. Just sit back and hoover it up!
After the instrumental four-minute opener, the tempo and tension are ratcheted upwards, intensity levels rise and after a throbbing intro Potion’s vocalist Lee Jowono adds his strangled rasp to the mix in the title track ‘Women of the Wand’.
The feeling here is vast, the groove beguilingly infectious as its sustains the focus throughout the eight minutes with Chris Downey maintaining a measured beat from behind his kit. The daisy-cutting bass rumble is delivered by Hong Kong-born Stella Leuna, a very talented and creative artist who certainly brings a flourish to the potent Portion package.
A neat punctuation point gives us a chance to take stock and reassemble faculties, before Potion slowly start to tighten the sonic screw once more, Jowono’s cries graduating from deathly spoken growls to more aggressive snipes as a sprinkling of distorted psychedelic cuts ensures a bristling climax from the antipodean trio.
It’s no surprise to see that an over-cautious cassette run of 40 went quicker than the Fosters on a sweltering afternoon at The Gabba. So head to their Bandcamp to check them out.
