OZRIC TENTACLES, the creative outlet of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, just released their seventeenth studio album “Harmonic Mind” on September 18th, 2026, via KScope. Having followed the band’s trippy career for the best part of the past 30 years, it’s funny that I have not yet reviewed any of their most recent albums for Tuonela Magazine – like albums such as “Lotus Unfolding” (2023), “Traveling the Great Circle” (2022), or “Space For the Earth” (2020). Maybe I’ve regarded the band as one of my guilty pleasures, since I got introduced to their music through the underground psy-trance scene in Helsinki, back in the day, instead of some outer fringes of the prog-rock or metal scenes. While it’s true that OZRIC TENTACLES resonates more closely with the air of psychedelic trance music than, say, the contemporary schools of prog, metal or not, their music is way too good to pass for stupid formalities. I guess they are one of those rare birds that connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia, and dance music. Since emerging from the UK’s festival scene in the early 1980s, this crazy bunch has remained truly original to this day. Their signature sound has not changed radically from the days of, say, “Jurassic Shift” (1993), which was their first album to pop on my radar at some point later on. However, it’s not like the band’s signature sound has not evolved – far from it. On their new album, that trademark sound of theirs has reached a whole new level of immersive awesomeness.
Once again, the songs are not structured into the traditional verse-chorus-verse form, but rather they are modal plateaus where the guitar and synths shred out with reckless abandon. Still, even though the songs are basically just extended solos in different keys and modes, there’s something utterly mesmerizing in them. First of all, the rhythm section, Pat Garvey on drums and Corey Wallace on bass, lay down such a solid foundation of diabolical grooves that it’s nigh impossible not to shake your booty to these riffathons. Wallace’s basslines are straight from the Jaco Pastorius department, and Garvey could make a killing in some fusion jazz band just as well. The harmonic soundscapes are substantially less eerie and disorienting than your average fusion-jazz selection, though. What makes these songs even more enchanting is their inherently ambient nature. OZRIC TENCTACLES‘ modus operandi is quite similar to liquid drum&bass: on top of all that frantic drumming and basslines, the harmonic rhythm is rather tranquil, almost meditative. Instead of stuffing a gazillion chord changes into a single song, the chord progressions are extremely minimalistic; sometimes the song sticks to a single chord for quite a while – hence the modal label. So, even though the lead instruments shred quite a lot, this static harmony factors into the overall ambient sound of the music.
The album opens with “Guardstones,” which could basically be from any of the band’s most recent albums. Actually, the high-end production is the only thing that gives away that the song must be relatively new; those old bangers used these very same tricks, but the production on those albums from 10 to 20 years ago was not as pristine as it is now. This album begs to be listened to with quality headphones! There are also some novel nuances scattered about the album, such as folksy riffs in the opener, or the septuple-meter stuff in “Malachite.” Odd time signatures are not so common in psychedelic trance or its derivative sub-genres, but OZRIC TENTACLES, along with SHPONGLE, is one of those rare bands that put them to nothing short of a haunting use once in a while. Then again, these particular niches have not seen much competition. In the psybient / psychedelic ambient scene, there have been a few electronic outfits, such as OTT, KLAADA, ZERO CULT, and TAKKRA, but in the more rock-oriented realms, not so much. Sure, we’ve seen myriad space-rock outfits over the years, but none of them has traversed a sonic terrain very close to OZRIC’s signature craft – only a handful of bands come to mind. Finnish cult legend KINGSTON WALL reached out to such spheres with their swansong album “III Tril-logy” in 1994, and more recently, bands such as ZOMBI and QUANTUM FANTAY have touched base in this psychedelic fusion realm, but the scene is far from overcrowded.
There, I said that OZRIC‘s music is quite meditative in nature, but on this new album, there is one track that rocks perhaps a bit too hard to relax to. The title track is a beefy uptempo riffathon. Sure, there are ample amounts of ambient synth textures, but some of the guitar riffs have a remarkably stronger bite than usual. Then again, I believe some of the band’s most die-hard fanbois relax to their music with the help of some natural products that enhance the state of relaxation, so maybe they won’t mind. Yeah, I guess that OZRIC TENTACLES is the PINK FLOYD of millennial urban hippies. I’m not sure how many times the band has visited Finland, but I do recall one time, maybe 20 years ago, when they played at some psy-trance event in Helsinki. I had plans to go there, but something came up, and I had to pass up the chance of a lifetime to see the band on stage. Maybe now, with a new album to promote, they could drop by Helsinki again? I mean, this new album is among their best work, so this time I would have to make sure not to miss it!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Space Platform
- Harmonic Mind
- Malachite
- Tillamook
- Sumipad
Lineup
Pat Garvey – drums
Corey Wallace – bass
Paul Hankin – percussion
Saskia Maxwell – flute, synths
Ed Wynne – guitars, synths
Label
KScope
