Be Electric Citizen’s “Misery Keeper” with This Retro-Rock Gem

Unlike most retro musical trends, which seem to march forward in time in parallel with the bands they’re referencing, a funny thing’s been happening to the trad/occult/stoner rock and metal revival of the past few years: it’s been going backwards. Instead of moving on to, I don’t know, Dio-era Sabbath, the scene’s been going further and further back to mine Blue Cheer, Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and bands that are beyond the knowledge of this humble metal blogger. Or perhaps we’ve just reached the point where anything is fair game, except, of course, for the one thing that was just popular?

I can’t say. But what I can say is that Cincinnati’s Electric Citizen reference all the above bands, and though I’m hesitant to call them metal they definitely rock as hard as or harder than anything that came out in 1967. Take their new track “Misery Keeper,” which premiered on Metal Hammer yesterday; the prevailing vibes are psychedelic — those keys! Laura Dolan’s soulful voice! — but there’s a heavy undertone that would’ve had any mom whose children came home listening to this in 1967 sitting those kids down for a stern lecture. Don’t you go listening to that Satanic nonsense! Do your homework!

Check out “Misery Keeper” below. Higher Time comes out May 13th via RidingEasy Records; pre-order on physical and digital.