Sea of Green

Just about as stoner as you can get, these Canadian soon-to-be stars bring the effects-laden rock to bear on their first full-length. Time To Fly leans the origin of the Sea Of Green moniker more towards the Beatles ("Sky of blue/and sea of green/in our yellow submarine") than towards the "greener" side of the stoner scene on last year's fairly heavy Northern Lights EP. The Toronto troupe still slings the grit on "Annihilation" and "Long Time Coming" but chooses a smoother path for the balladry of "Deep Inside" and "Dune." "Women Today" has a mega-spacy solo halfway through, and "Orion's Belt" stretches out for a lengthy acid infusion. "End of Eternity" even features a Peter Frampton-esque talk box. But a would-be faithful cover of Pink Floyd's "Breathe" is marred near the end with inappropriate voice samples that would make Gilmour and Waters cringe. Sea Of Green retain their Hendrix-ish flights of fancy like Nebula's Eddie Glass and their catchy vocal harmonies like Monster Magnet's Dave Wyndorf, all the while proving that it's indeed time to fly to the mainstream world.