Praise for Motorpsycho’s Heavy Metal Fruit from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records:  Having been around for years and years (with the cult following to show for it), this Norwegian band now release their umpteeth album, however just their third for Rune Grammofon. Apparently we missed their vinyl-only 2nd one for the label, whoops, but we really liked their RG debut a couple years ago, Little Lucid Moments.

And again, this is a similar hard to pin down hybrid of trippy space rock, indie rock pop, and, as befits this disc’s Blue Oyster Cult lyric derived title, even a little bit of metal. Maybe more than a little bit on the 13 minute opening track “Starhammer (Feat. The Electric Psalmon)”, which goes through several musical mood swings, at certain, most metallic points sounding a lot like Black Label Society, believe it or not, complete with big grungy riffs and harmonic pinch squeals a la Zakk Wylde, with vocals too that sound a bit Ozzy esque, though elsewhere on that track (and album as a whole) they wander far out into abstract Pink Floydian space…

By the way that’s not the longest song on here, either, the disc wrapping up in epic fashion with a 20 minute, 4 part suite entitled “Gullible’s Travails”. In between, there’s some shorter songs, including the delicate piano lullaby “Close Your Eyes” and the rockin’ roadhouse spaceout “The Bomb-Proof Roll And Beyond (For Arnie Hassle)”, but their kitchen-sink-inclusive prog aesthetic is operative throughout, Motorpsycho utilizing Moogs and mellotrons, horn players borrowed from Jaga Jazzist, dreamy vocal choruses, and plenty of hard rock guitar.

Occasionally they take some twists and turns we don’t like quite so much as others, and also they’re one of those bands we’d probably like even better if they didn’t sing in English, but mostly Motorpsycho’s arty indie / stoner rock meets cinematic synth sound, confusionally crammed with shimmering psychedelic jamming, edgy energetic rock riffage, and lovely laidback poppiness, is quite pleasing!