Here Lies Man

The marquee hook on Here Lies Man is “Black Sabbath playing Afrobeat,” which sounds good in a pull quote, but is a fairly reductive take on what Here Lies Man are actually accomplishing. The band, which contains members of Afro-cuban luminaries Antibalas, lays down a base of African rhythms that pulse heavy as anything on the Nigeria Special comps. Its clear that they know how to hook into the funk laden rhythms that tumble under the plethora of ’70s cuts from the continent. They proceed to meld that percussive heartbeat to a syrup n’ smoke cocktail of fuzzed out guitars and transistor radio vocals beamed in from the AFVN across an expanse of time itself.

The fuzz recalls other African heavies like Amanaz or Witch (’75), with a particular slide into West Coat blues rumble a la Blue Cheer on more than one occasion. The overall vibe actually sways towards heavy ecstasy, rather than, say, the doom clouds of Sabbath’s occult vortex. The band winds up reaching some of the same vistas that Goat inhabits on a regular basis, but without the dollop of folk on top. Still, the band has an aesthetic and sticks to it, even if it gets a little samey over time, resulting in a whollop of psych that tends to move the feet more than most in the genre.

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