Nebula – Holy Shit

Holy shit, indeed

Holy shit is right. For one, Nebula, who still boasts the prowess of a post-Fu Manchu Eddie Glass, hasn’t put out a record in a whole decade. 2009’s Heavy Psych lived up to its name and to what the stoner rock group are known for, but it also marked the beginning of an entirely too long hiatus for them. Their 2017 reunion gave fans an everlasting glimmer of hope for new music and, finally, we can now say “holy shit” again. Nebula’s album, of the same, very aptly named title, makes it almost seem like they never even left.

Now with Heavy Psych Sounds (what a coincidence, considering their last release!), Nebula’s Holy Shit starts off with “Man’s Best Friend,” which doesn’t seem to be about a dog. It does seem to be about our unholy father, Satan. Or, maybe an alien. Either way, the song’s intro is as hard-hittingly metal as the album gets, before calming down into some pretty psychedelic solos. They touch on the obvious style of Sabbathian riffs with “Messiah,” coming to a head with “It’s All Over.” It’s the perfect apex of weighty and spacy rock and passionate blues.

To the opposite effect, “Let’s Get Lost” veers from the heavy rock aspects of Nebula and heads straight for punkish sonic themes. Visions of classics like the Stooges or even Black Flag may come to mind due to Glass’ particularly gruff vocal approach, but it totally works. It seems natural, even if it may seem a little unexpected.

Will we get another Nebula album? Who knows, but for being gone basically for 10 years, Nebula came back with a considerable band. Holy Shit—even if it does teeter on the corniness of the ’70s at times—shows that Glass, bassist Tom Davies and new drummer Michael Amster have got good chemistry that hopefully will result in Nebula albums to come.