Mythos - 1971 - Mythos

Quality: 4.25 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5

In many ways Mythos strikes me as being Ash Ra Tempel-lite or something. I really don't mean that as an insult since the Tempel tends to barter in insane psychedelic squealing. These krautrockers play with a little more restraint, but the music is still very imaginative and the fire does kick up a notch here and there. Mythos tends to let you drift on downstream with them a little more. There's a fine tribal-sounding rhythm section along with some very groovy, if particularly flamboyant, guitar. There's a fair amount of drifting flutes to keep your attention, too. I guess it adds just a touch of more conventional prog rock to the proceedings.

The first couple tracks are more meditative. Really, this album does manage to do an artistic job of upping the intensity until we find a few truly insane noise voids in the two part "Encyclopedia Terra." Stuck in the middle is "Hero's Death," which rides out a pretty reasonable groove for almost ten minutes. It's my least favorite track here, but it's still of fine quality. I'm more partial to the mystic mountain space jam of "Oriental Journey" with its waves of sound, or the aforementioned "Encyclopedia Terra." I think that suite is more like what I wanted to hear from the first Tangerine Dream album (I dig the goofy concept-ridden spoken word at the end as well). Electronic meditation indeed.

While this may not quite have the demon spark that possessed Can or Ash Ra Tempel, Mythos will come a long way in convincing you that sometimes a touch of restraint is worthwhile as well. Most of the key element of the more psychedelic-side of krautrock is front and center here, but it won't necessarily assault your fragile egg-shell mind as much as some of their peers will. I'm happy to give the cover art seven 'groovy points' as well.

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Mythos - 1971 - Mythos