DeWolff — Orchards/Lupine

Following on from their 2009 debut Strange Fruits and Undiscovered Plants, the Dutch psychedelic rock/blues outfit DeWolff here pull out all the stops to drench this new venture in the multifarious styles of 60's/70's classic rock. They are heavily influenced by bands such as Led Zeppelin, T-Rex, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, the Doors and a variety of other legendary bands, but somehow fuse it all into an invigorating and - in the main - successful reanimated rock-corpse.

There are some fantastic tracks on here like 'Who Are You or the Magnificence of Loving a Million Strangers' where the vocals gently implore you whilst accompanied by a strange mixture of retro-cosmic sounds, as in what sounds like a mellotron mixed with heavy blues-rock guitar and drums. 'Seashell Woman' could easily be mistaken for Led Zeppelin - the same vocal inflections and lithe blues-rock sound, but with an added spooky theramin towards the end as the tune reaches its climax. 'The Pistol' is like a cross between The Doors and Zeppelin and does the impression perfectly. Its wonderful to hear such nostalgia-inducing instruments as the Hammond organ, honky tonk piano and fuzz guitars, and the three-piece employ them very well. 'Poison' could be interpreted as a more rocky version of a Pentangle song.

All in all, DeWolff are one of the best, most accomplished retro-fusion rock bands out there at the moment.