Nightfly The hard rock/metal scene seems somewhat flooded these days with female fronted bands on the dark side with occult leanings. Blood Ceremony, Avatarium, Devil Electric, Psychedelic Witchcraft, Witch Mountain, Jex Thoth…. The list goes on. All these bands have a strong retro vibe to their sound going back to the late sixties/early seventies period, most worshipping at the altar of Black Sabbath to a greater or lesser degree, at least at some point in their career. Jess And The Ancient Ones stand out because they haven’t ever really been there even if earlier material was more riff based than of late, but they still have a strong retro feel to their music – in their case the late sixties.

The Horse And Other Weird Tales is album number three from JATAO and sees them continue to hone their sound to an even more authentic sixties feel. It’s less of a hard rock/ heavy psych sound than their debut, something they seemed to be moving away from on Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes though the psychedelic elements remained. This is no doubt partly down to the fact that they have slimmed from a two guitar line-up, losing Fiend along the way leaving Thomas Corpse as the sole guitarist. This has made room for keyboardist Abrahammond to move to the fore and in fact the keyboards now dominate though Corpse expertly plays off this weaving his guitar runs into the sound. Their music these days seems to bear more resemblance to the likes of Jefferson Airplane aided by Singer Jess displaying a not dissimilar timbre to Grace Slick and both having a powerful set of pipes. In fact she is a better singer than ever with improved phrasing and depth than previously displayed and she was no slouch before.

The songs are noticeably more streamlined these days, mainly around the three minute mark with only You And Eyes and closer Anyway The Minds Flow at eight minutes reaching the longer lengths previously favoured. They also have more immediate melodies but with titles like Your Exploding Heads and Death Is The Doors clearly still retain the quirkiness and darkness of earlier material. Despite overall consistency my album highlight has got to be Anyway The Minds Flow which is a beautifully haunting piece with Jess and keyboardist Abrahammond particularly excelling, a great way to close the album.

I haven’t quite made my mind up yet but this may be my favourite JATAO album so far. Having said that Second Psychedelic Coming was almost twice as long as this and certainly had plenty of moments to match what’s on offer here but for an immediate hit The Horse And Other Weird Tales is pretty hard to beat.

Nightfly Second Psychedelic Coming: The Aquarius Tapes, released in late 2015 is you’ve guessed it, the second full length album from Finland’s Jess And The Ancient Ones. It comes three years after their eponymous debut and continues in that album’s footsteps of occult psychedelic retro rock.

Whilst there’s no great leaps forward musically SPC is if anything busier than the first album. Yes, there’s a lot going on with two guitarists as well as keyboards in the line-up but thankfully it doesn’t get messy and has a sympathetic mix. The band plays well with guitarists Thomas Corpse and Fiend blending and weaving between each other’s parts very effectively. Once again Jess shows she’s one of the best singers in the current wave of female fronted occult rock bands, very much in the mould of Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick. Her powerful and soulful delivery swoops and soars throughout.

The songs take a few plays to get under your skin but once there you’re hooked with the subtle melodies. SPC has even more of a psychedelic feel than the debut giving it a strong 60’s vibe, especially on songs like The Equinox Death Trip, one of the highlights. Of the first eight songs the quality rarely falters consisting of mainly mid paced rockers but taking a breath for the lush and more subdued Crossroad Lightning. A perusal of the track list, ones attention is most likely going to be grabbed by Goodbye To Virgin Grounds Forever, a 22 minute plus epic. The first album had Sulfur Giants and Come Crimson Death that both were around the 12 minute mark and like them GTVGF starts quietly but never really takes off like the aforementioned 2 songs. It’s enjoyable for sure with some tasteful playing but just kind of fizzles out and could have probably benefitted from losing 5 minutes or so.

SPC is another great album from JATAO – better than their debut? Probably not but that’s no disrespect to this one and is certainly on an equal footing with that excellent record. If you liked the first then you’re going to like this one too for sure.

Warthur Occult hard rock band Jess and the Ancient Ones offer up on their debut album an enjoyable selection of psych-tinged numbers with a retro-stoner spin to them. With a sound mostly anchored in 1970s hard rock with occasional borrowings from the neighbouring decades, the big draw of the group is probably Jess herself, since she's a reasonably good vocalist who's entertaining to listen to even if she doesn't break a whole lot of new ground. (Imagine Janis Joplin or Grace Slick singing about occult matters and you're getting into the right ballpark). I wouldn't say it's of such a quality as to give its 1970s influences a run for their money, but if you're in the market for some throwback rock it's not a terrible choice.

Time Signature Long and lonesome road...

Genre: psychedelic hard rock

Jess and the Ancient Ones unleashed their psych/prog hard rock debut album upon the world last year and also appeared on a split, and now they are back with an EP.

Drawing on psychedelic 70s rock as its main inspiration, "Astral Sabbat" is more on the psychedelic rock side than the metallic side, and definitely has less of a metallic edge than the debut album. Still, it features enough hard rock elements that it should appeal to a metal crowd.

'Long and Lonesome Road' in particular features some heavy Southern grooves and several references to proto-metal. Likewise, the otherwise mellow "More Than Living", once it really kicks in, does feature some quite heavy passages and a couple of rocking riffs as well - especially towards the end. The guitar-and-organ combo particularly oozes of 70s hard rock / proto-metal. The title track sounds more like a psyched up darker type of surf rock, with a twangy guitar to boot (the chorus, however, is as occult as it gets).

A dynamic and definitely far from boring release, "Atral Sabbat" is a fine specimen of psychedelic hard rock by a band who have really understood how to take the best of the darker genres of 70s rock and bring it into the 21st century.

Time Signature Ghost riders...

Genre: progressive hard rock

It is an age in which rock music is being rediscovered, and artists look back at the rock scenes of the 80s and 70s for inspiration. Perhaps it is a reaction against contemporary mainstream "culture" which seems to reach a new low virtually every day in the form of some lame reality TV show or a new manufactured plastic pop star. Whatever it is, the implementation of 70s and 80s rock elements into present day rock and metal music is definitely something I appreciate.

Take Jess and the Ancient Ones who, on their eponymous debut combine metal-edged hard rock with the psychedelia and progressive spirit of the 70s. And, I must say, it works pretty well. With a fuzzy guitar distortion and a central organ (perhaps a Hammond or perhaps a digital emulation thereof), there is no doubt that Jess and her band members deliberately draw on 70s psychedelic and progressive rock. The big fat drums have more of an early 80s rock sound to them, and Jess' vocals and the distorted bass have a more contemporary feel to them, but it all goes together quite well.

The opening track 'Prayer' is an uptempo rocker, featuring blues-rock guitar solos and a "Born To Be Wild"-esque guitar riffs, while both 'Sulphur Giants' and 'Ghost Riders' are progressive epics featuring Iron Maiden-like twin guitar leads, chucking guitar riffs, and galloping bass figures as well as progressive melodic intros. Less progressive, 'Twilight Witchcraft' also features twin guitars, while '13th Breath of the Zodiac' is more of an 80s metal/hardrock affair performed with a 70s-oriented mindset. 'Devil (in G Minor)' succeeds where Guns 'n' Roses failed miserably with 'Dust N Bones', and 'Come Crimson Death' is a dark ballad.

Definitely an album that reminds us that hard rock can also be progressive and psychedelic, Jess and the Ancient Ones' debut album is interesting and both multifaceted and focused. If you like your hard rock psychedelic, check out this Finnish band.