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Spiritual Emergency
by
Spiritual Emergency Image
Metascore
73

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: This is the second release for the psychedelic rock project led by Greg Fox.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. AllMusic
    Apr 1, 2014
    80
    After absorbing the record, however, it's clear that the broken, disconnected flow is by design, and Guardian Alien's experiment with structure pays off with another album of mind-bending headphone candy.
  2. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Jan 30, 2014
    80
    Amidst the palpitated urgings of bass and the rapid skimmings of guitar, Fox’s drumkit emerges as the key figure here, the volatility of his technique underscoring the fact that, as soon as you efface the certainties and the contrived precision of the external world, the once incontrovertible dimensions of the self go with it.
  3. The Wire
    Jan 30, 2014
    80
    Guardian Alien's music, which, driven by Greg Fox's questing, cyclical drumming, creates wide and wondrous vistas. [Feb 2014, p.54]
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  4. The 405
    Jan 30, 2014
    70
    It will take a patient, contemplative listener to fully appreciate the picture that emerges.
  5. New Musical Express (NME)
    Jan 30, 2014
    70
    Shamelessly self-indulgent, you imagine their aim is to jam themselves into a sonic trance as much as the listener.
  6. Consequence
    Jan 31, 2014
    67
    After Grof’s narration drifts away, Fox and company do their best to push and pull at the tempo, to spin like a Sufi, to stretch out yogic, to get into the monastic mystic chanting, breaking free of the everyday and into the spiritual.
  7. PopMatters
    Feb 13, 2014
    60
    This, Spiritual Emergency, is the real display, rounding out a solid, ever-shifting album from Guardian Alien.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Scooter4849
    Apr 23, 2014
    6
    Full of strange and psychedelic instrumentals and jams, just like the previous work of theirs. But this LP is a little bit more diversified.Full of strange and psychedelic instrumentals and jams, just like the previous work of theirs. But this LP is a little bit more diversified. With 5 tracks instead of just 1. Some inequalities in track lengths withstanding, there are some very sound bending moments here. Unfortunately, the first 4 shorter tracks are pretty underwhelming at best, while the final 20 minute closer is fantastic. Intense and manic it is. Another thing done well on this effort is the drumming, solid all the way through. Great interplay and flow at times, albeit directionless for the most part. A decent effort, but nothing to memorable or special.… Expand

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