When I was considerably younger than I am today, my old man (Ivan, a drummer) imparted unto me a musical notion that I’ve generally carried with me for my whole life. He would measure how good something was, whether in a live capacity or on record, by the uncontrollable tapping of his and other people’s feet. Like the man’s subconscious was his true measuring stick or something. It’s a notion that I trust and that has served me well over the years, and that’s why I eventually ended up being pretty enamoured by Rocket Science, the debut output of Boston’s sludge rock peddling KIND. It’s only a debut for any of them in this guise however, as they all apparently come from some other fairly well known doom-esque backgrounds of which I am painfully ill aware of, save for Rozamov. Those guys are pretty cool.

You may have noticed that part where I wrote that I eventually ended up liking them. Because at first I was fairly dismissive. Initially I found their sound to be unremarkable, if not well constructed. The kind of thing where you can throw a stick in any direction and hit pretty much exactly the same band. But the more and more I listened to it the more it started to reverse my thoughts, and before I knew it I was eating breakfast and found my foot in full tap mode. See the “Ivan hypothesis” from earlier for reference.

What I really dig about Rocket Science now is the reverence that it displays, which is true reverence. I came to the realisation that what I was experiencing wasn’t just a shameless reiteration of bands that they clearly hold in high esteem. There’s a big 70s classic rock thing being channelled throughout the album and you can hear Zeppelin and Free at various different interludes in terms of righteous get-down action and a scope for big, bombastic moments. It switches from open road glory to dirty groove in a respectably effortless manner, too. And in terms of psych jam capabilities they manage to capture that free-flowing Kyuss ability to just drift off into space and play the blues at any given moment. The same 70s sound that was funnelled by Sleep and indeed Kyuss into their own thing is married here with that original influence that those respective groups had originally. Imagine me writing that last sentence with my hands clasped together if you need a physical interpretation. Go ahead, it’s okay.

In terms of highlights I really got behind album-opener “German for Lucy” as it was a smart choice for a tone setter, starting out with a strong but loose riff that eventually segues into a perfect example of that marrying I was talking about. It goes off a cliff (in a good way) and straight down into this low, spacey vibe that doesn’t outlive it’s welcome. Not too heavy, not too light, definitely way out there. It certainly helps that Craig Riggs is just the right side of John Garcia too, and does real justice by that tune with his vocals. “Rabbit Astronaut” has a gentle but solid drum beat that stayed with me for a long time afterwards. And I really like “The Angry Undertaker”, which probably holds within it some of the heaviest moments on the whole album. Those doom backgrounds bubble up to the surface somewhat and don’t at all stick out like a sore thumb given the nature of the rest of the album.

For me Rocket Science proved that I’m still growing up as a music listener, even now. I’m finally at an age where I’m starting to phase out the knee jerk and up the immersion and due justice levels. I would have written KIND off and that’s completely shame on me, and it certainly would have been my loss. Instead what I got in return was a hugely enjoyable, well crafted, rocking and soulful experience that I will be listening to well beyond the immediacy of this review. Thank God for happy feet, right?

– Matt Fitton

Rocket Science is available 12.11.2015 via Ripple Music. For more information on Kind check out their Facebook page.