Two and half years ago, already with a formidable live reputation, psychedelic hard rock trio Lord Vapour put out a debut album, Mill Street Blues, that hinted at great things to come. Since then it’s seemed they’ve been on stage somewhere every weekend (including a tour in Europe) and now a second album, Semuta, has emerged – appropriately primarily on vinyl, with some impressive sci-fi artwork from artist Montdoom.

Given that the album title (and at least two of the song titles) reference Frank Herbert’s science fiction masterwork Dune, it was no surprise when opener Burning Planet, after a bass-wah-heavy jam of an intro, coalesces into something of a groovy interplanetary scene setter for the rest of the record.

While Joe Le Long’s words take us out to Saturn and beyond the music (provided by Le Long on bass, Henry Fears on guitar and Christiaan Mariess on drums) transports us through the void in a way akin to the illustrations of Jack Kirby in the Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange comics of the 1960s.

The Spice continues the laid back grooves before unleashing the album’s, and the band’s, other side with driving hard rock pushing us into hyperspace. Across the record the band switch between the two aspects seamlessly as their songs weave and expand into a genuinely huge sound that defies even their live presence.

Compared to past recording’s Le Long’s vocals sound supremely powerful and confident while Fears’ guitar work, sometimes somewhat self-indulgent feeling and oppressive in the live arena, is dexterous and marries in with song’s grooves provided superbly by the bass and drums.

Through The Doors of Kukundu was released previously as a single but here is re-recorded and expanded to match to scope of the rest of the record before Semuta Music (the second, or third, of those Dune references) kicks in with one of the dirtiest and sleaziest riffs I’ve ever heard produced in Guernsey.

Semuta Music is also something of a revelation on record being a track familiar from their live shows but that never really grabbed me, though here it sounds tremendous. This makes for something very rare in that, as a whole, I think I prefer everything in this recorded form to when I hear it live as there seems to be extra focus, precision and clarity, while live things often get lost in oppressive heaviness and over extended jamming.

Album closer Nasubi is the only time this arguably self-indulgent side appears on the record as the lengthy instrumental does begin to out stay its welcome, but really this is a small niggle given what precedes it and the fact it is also highly absorbing to begin with.

With Semuta Lord Vapour have fulfilled on the promise of both their earlier recordings and live shows to create a high quality slice of powerful, transporting, psychedelic rock – and I have one piece of advice for listeners… ‘play loud’!