Well, this is a hard one… I very much enjoyed Melbourne metal outfit Flitcraft‘s first album, Our Long Journey To The Middle; Described by the band’s own Philip T. King as sounding like “Kansas playing British Steel“, it very much tickled my trad metal fancy.

Now, the band is back with a new album, House At The Centre of the Universe, and I’m really struggling to connect with what King and company are trying to achieve here.

For a start the album isn’t the celebration of heads down heavy metal that it’s predecessor was; the band stay in the seventies for sure here, and do let rip on occasion (especially on the first couple of tracks, Error Era [2137] and Earth Is Not A Perfect Sphere),  however there’s more of a psych rock vibe here going on that doesn’t particularly float this reviewer’s boat overmuch, meaning that a fair chunk of the middle of the album is lost on me, which is a shame.

Still, if I’m honest, even here, the skill levels on show are undeniable, with the Thin Lizzyish Galactic Road (Wayworn Travellers) piquing the interest thanks to some nice drumming and chunky riffage. Smoko With Sisyphus is a bit of a rager too. But there’s something about the general structure of the songs – and King’s vocal style, which I enjoyed last time around but here seems a little more experimental – that’s just a bit too ‘out there’ for my more prosaic tastes.

That’s my problem rather than the band’s of course, and if you enjoy your hard rock thunderous but on the quirky side then there’s every chance you are going to love every minute of this album – give it a try… you know you want to!

House At The Centre of the Universe releases on April 28th.