Camelus Dromedarius
Coming from Age of the Spaceborn, Cosmic Reef Temple seems to come out of nowhere with this one, but their newest work helps to contextualize this a bit more. I love the progression into more surf rock and a bit away from the freeform nature of their previous work.
Favorite track: Wave Constellation.
A gathering of the Cosmic wizard-priests to worship Cod through streams of space-time, exiled to the inverted desert, wandering the plains of psychedelia...
Emerging to the Known Universe circa 2014-2015AD in Santa Cruz CA, Cosmic Reef Temple began as two piece (guitar & drums, formed from the ashes of a prior project, Folivore) in which the members wanted to fuse surf music with heavy metal. After starting to write some solid songs more members of the Temple were initiated, adding synthesizers and saxophone to expand the melodic atmosphere and finally bass guitar to provide the welcomed heaviness. With one full length, Age of the Spaceborn, released through Transylvanian Tapes and several splits recorded (all tracked at Earhammer in Oakland), another album is mostly written and are already playing some of it live.
After the original goal of creating surf metal was achieved the band's sound has begun to evolve traveling further into extreme metal, prog, psych and Middle Eastern tones and rhythms. The sounds can invoke images of the crushing surge of any planets ocean, the mindfulessness of drifting in space, bending the very laws of physics and beyond. Drawing influences from John Zorn, Aluk Todolo, Kayo Dot, Secret Chiefs 3, The Astroglides and Oranssi Pazuzu as well as local Santa Cruz heavies The Mermen and Mammatus and of course legends such as Melvins, Hawkwind, Dick Dale, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, the end result is expansive and cohesive (when it means to be).
Shrinkwrap Killers:
Visqueen, plastic, & shrinkwrap help distort the visions. Don’t stare or you will destroy both retinas. Conspiracies & folklore in past, present and future are all truths. It's best to hide our identities while delivering these messages. We are Shrinkwrap Killers…
Created in Oct ‘18, Greg Wilkinson twisted punk, new wave and garage rock into a contorted blend of catchy tunes. Initially influenced by the Spits, Wall of Voodoo, Devo, Dick Dale & Ennio Morricone the sound rapidly unraveled into its own animal. The project never abandoned its initial concept, only expanded upon it. Sprinkles of death rock, post punk, even pop all ensnared by a unique heaviness not common to this genre of music often appear. One may attribute the fact that all songs are composed in C Standard across all instruments. Some may consider his background in music.
All compositions are created and recorded by Greg himself at his own Earhammer Studio in Oakland, CA. He is best known for working with bands such as Necrot, Autopsy, Graves at Sea, Annihilation Time, High on Fire, Vastum, Iron Lung, Acephalix, Lecherous Gaze, Mortuous, Undergang, and his own bands Brainoil and Deathgrave to name a few.
The goal was to create a project able to record consistently in the down time even if only for an hr at a time. This would require the ease of a “plug and play” mentality in lieu of laboriously working on tones. Being a fan of punk, garage and new wave music, this would be a perfect medium to execute songs with such limitations.
credits
released October 2, 2020
Cosmic Reef Temple:
Guitar - Wave Guardian of the Reverberatory
Bass - Sub-Frequency Fractal Emitter
Saxophone - Celestial Wind Talker
Synthesizer - Summoner of Galactic Storms
Drums - Interstellar Time Keeper
Shrinkwrap Killers:
All Instruments - Greg Wilkinson
All songs captured, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studio Oakland CA
Cover Art by Santos Illustration
Exploring the realms of psych, surf, synth and prog.
Wave Guardian Records will withdraw
various analog releases from the Reverberatory to satisfy the auditory needs of those who seek beyond the standard dimension of music....more
Surfy new wave punk full of drenched guitars, drum machines and synth leads of the infamous Evil Wizard of Rock, Greg Wilkinson (Earhammer Studio, Brainoil). Wave Guardian Records
supported by 12 fans who also own “Cosmic Reef Temple - Shrinkwrap Killers”
never been a big death metal fan but this is actually super accessible for the genre, has fun concepts, and personally i'm always a fan of albums with short tracklists and huge runtimes (for individual songs) Great time, good jumping on point for newbies too. alienasu