13th Magic Skull's last record "Sungazing in Rapa Nui" was a huge surprise hit last year. I gave it an honorable mention for a Gremmy and definitely gave it a lot of thought for the big prize. They've just got so much punch that I'm always surprised when I give it another listen and hear a pretty pure surf sound. I'm expecting to hear some punk cues for the amount of energy they bring to the table, but they don't need it!
That's absolutely still the case here. The production on "Sungazing" was nearly perfect, and thankfully nothing was lost when they switched studios and engineers on this one. It's still a surf record where you turn the volume up higher and higher and it sounds better and better.
If you've got to listen to one track to sell you on this one, I'd go for "Eta Carinae". Great riffs, monstrous sound and energy, and a great sense of urgency and purpose. This is the good stuff, y'all, that infectious sound that that has kept us coming back for over 50 years! And they've got variety too, with spaghetti western tracks like "Oceana" and a slower, prettier one in "Mala Mujer"
And if you need to ride on creds alone, the phrase "Produced by Mike Barbwire" is about as much as I'll ever need. But you really don't need that, it's clear that this is a band that you should know and remember in today's surf landscape.
Though you can listen on bandcamp, it looks like the only way to own it is on vinyl. You can send them an email about it on their website.
