While Grail’s studio records are expertly crafted affairs, full of expert production and cinematic flair, but the Black Tar Prophecies series has been the set of songs which has brought Grails to the forefront of the instrumental scene. Lo-fi and bared back, it gives the band a place to experiment outside of the norm.
Volume 4 of the Black Tar Prophecies series utterly drips in dark atmosphere; opener I Want A New Drug starts with a tape recording which slowly descends into warbling, becoming intersperced with synthesised drones. This quickly gives way to the most song-like track on the album, Self-Hypnosis, a warbling bluesy number, sounding like something lifted off a 70’s prog record (but the good kind, not the 20-minute-songs-about-dragons kind). Over eight minutes it goes through blues to wandering accoustics, to booming electrics, finally lifting off into string-backed ambience. It’s a remarkable track and for a band that could well fit into the post-rock scene, markedly and excitingly different. The five tracks fly by, almost too quickly – A Mansion Has Many Rooms is a piano led number, almost sounding like the backing to some old TV drama. New Drug II is a reprise of the opening track, yet somehow even more dark sounding. Closing number Up All Night is another track with piano foundations, starting somewhat unbeat, but with a counter-melody which soon grows darker and darker, before leading the song out (somewhat abruptly). What the tracks show well is Grail’s admirable ability to generate atmosphere in their songs, to change the mood so easily. They’re clearly a band comfortable in experimentation and Vol. 4 is possibly the most interesting of all the series so far, and well worth a listen. In fact, do yourself a favour; get the collected edition of the first three volumes while you’re at it, and enjoy.