Featuring a former Rocket from the Crypt and a future Black Crowe, (mostly) instrumental San Diegan heavy psych trio Earthless found themselves unexpectedly elevated to the 2008 Roadburn Festival’s mainstage. They plugged in their instruments and amplifiers, thanked the crowd, and then proceeded to lay out 83 minutes of blistering semi-improvised, semi-reinterpreted jamming that took the audience into the cosmic void implied by their name. Strands of Acid Mothers Temple and Cream run through their DNA, but even those exalted figures can’t sustain the transcendent tension-release dynamic that Earthless excel at.

– Jeff Treppel