Tropic Santos – Caccia Grossa

Enter the big game. Tropic Santos formed in Milan, Italy 2018.  The instrumental group bring varied influences, a psychedelic / stoner band, a post-punk hardcore outfit and an experimental lo-fi band.  The three coalesce into Tropic Santos. An all-instrumental song six-pack is their debut album, Caccia Grossa. The album title translates, “the Big Game”.  Big, bold, and hard space age rocking.

The lead track, “Dead Tropic” sets the tone. An elephant blast sounds, right into the heavy, heady rock n roll vibes. It’s an attention getter to kick off an album. Their sound is reminiscent of early Desert Sessions efforts.  The fusion of psych/experimental merge well.

The third track, “Mystic Liver” is straight on stoner rock. A nod to Kyuss is a first and powerful impression. One might think these Italian rockers might have arisen from the sun scorched Southern California wastelands.

“Jaguar Mamas” kicks off with a jamming riff, devolves into a muted thrash slowed down thrash sound. The groove on this 3:30 minute rock/funk jam. The best of the song set. This big cat is a rocker. She just might pounce, beware. The finale, “Sacred Forces Saturation” intro got my attention. The spaced out, slow molasses pours on like Volume 4 era Black Sabbath meets Pink Floyd. The pace amps up, behind punching drums, driving guitars. Almost 7 minutes, the longest song on the set closes a fine debut effort.

The trio describe their sound, “the three fellas built up a psych-stoner-flavoured melt of captivating tribal grooves with wide hypnotic textures and uncommon paths for an instrumental band. Their vocal-less songs do sing.”

Well said. A band to watch. An album to spin when you are in the mood for a hard rock groove, less the vocal pyrotechnics. Killer album art by Zero Deluxe. If you (like me, occasionally), judge an album by the artwork, the Milanese trio will influence you to sample Caccia Grossa. Plug in and blast off, it’s a ride.

www.facebook.com/TropicSantos