Let It Burn

Although Chicago’s REZN has come one of the more notable psychedelic doom bands to come out in recent years, I must admit that their 2017 debut album comes off as a little basic. In contrast to the more exotic synths and saxophone that define their subsequent work in 2018’s Calm Black Water and 2020’s Chaotic Divine, the setup on Let It Burn is a bit more conventional with the standard power trio makeup. Thankfully the band’s penchant for Electric Wizard-style heaviness fleshed out by extended trippy numbers was already out in full force.

And with that, there are some solid tracks to work with. “Rezurrection” provides a glimpse of the more adventurous style to come with its near nine-minute runtime seeing periodic bursts of sitar alongside the spacey guitar effects and drawn-out vocals. “Harvest the Void” and “Fall into the Sky” stand out from the opposite angle, going all in on crushing bass-heavy riff sets. There are also several tracks devoted to more ambience-oriented jams; perhaps they could’ve been cut for the sake of a more cohesive runtime, but they also do well to play out those vibes.

While Let It Burn doesn’t quite hit me in the same way as REZN’s other albums, it has enough ingredients to work with for greatness. The band already shows a better ear for atmosphere than most of their stoner doom peers, creating cosmic landscapes with a combination of colossal riffs and psychedelic effects. It may even be worth checking out for listeners who aren’t as interested in the admittedly gimmicky instrumentation of their future outings.