First heard about this Southern Ontario supergroup (of sorts) back in ’07, when they released their first, self-titled Supermansion album. They put out a second record five years later, unbeknownst to me, and now they’ve got five albums under their belt, with Solar Order being the latest, independent release. Not sure if this one is quite the collaborative effort of the debut, which featured about a dozen different local musicians, but it looks like the brains of the operation is still the same guy who once played in a funky, Clutch-worshipping Windsor outfit called The Jet Trio… so you can bet your bottom dollar there will be riffs.
Solar Order starts off with an opening theme, “Theme from Solar Order,” 90 seconds of organ-driven retro rock a la Deep Purple. The riffs kick in with “White Sun (Dead Man Rhythm)” and the Clutch is very strong with this one, a groovy, driving back-beat with two-man tradeoff vocals. After a spoken-word intro, “Hole in the Universe” hits like a grungy Soundgarden ripper that’ll get a decent head-nod going. “Heartbreaker” is another heavy riffer, albeit with an eerie piano section that kicks in around the three-minute mark, whereas the lighter, janglier “Secret Spider” reminds me more of Weezer.
Further shades of Clutch abound on the speedy, two-and-a-half-minute “Manvil,” the slinky, slithering “Head and a Tail” before the synthy, seven-minute title track brings things to a close. For all the heavy riffs packed into this one, the proggy note they leave us on certainly stands out.
https://supermansion.bandcamp.com
(independent)
