Review Summary: "From Mercury to Pluto" is an interplanetary cuisine of chillout reggae/hip-hop fusion, but suffers from turbulence and over half-way, you may think about the emergency exit.
“From Mercury to Pluto”, the journey of the solar system. The album title immediately sets up anticipation of a soundscape that would transcend many different colours, emotions and dynamics. The 10-piece collective, from Blue Mountains, Australia, describes their music as “blending intricate. mood-driven instrumentals” along with guest vocalists and MCs. What is clear from Cooking with Caustic’s debut album is the collective are incredibly versatile and create engaging and chill tracks, suitable for playing at the background of any social situation.
The opening two tracks introduce the mood of the album well, with some well-crafted funk/reggae mixed with hip-hop elements from guests Mute and Blackjack Davey. “Journey from the Inside Out” is a catchy track full of confidence and vibrance, the bouncing keys and booming bass lines fused with some fantastic flows from the guest MCs immediately switches on the listener. “Fire In My Head” and “About to Fly” continues the same tempo and sounds with some strong vocal performances by Queen B, Tenth Dan, Ev Jones and Madame Wu. These tracks carry a particular soulful approach and ensure the listener is now on cruise control during this interplanetary journey of chill-out beats.
It is evident that “From Mercury to Pluto” excels where the tracks have guest vocalists. This includes ‘Crooked Eye’, with its catchy hooks in the chorus melded with some sinister creeping horns. “Natural Selection” arguably has the best rap performances, with some ferocious delivery of lyrics such as “rejection of the war will spawn infection”, you can feel the emotion seeping through the bouncing reggae music; it’s a huge juxtaposition but there is so much texture and feel to the track, which makes it a very engaging listen. It is also clear from the album holistically, that members of the collective bring a dynamic element to their sound. Caustic Yoda consistently delivers memorable beats on nearly every track along with some jazzy keys and vibrant percussion, DJ Cost adds some intricate texture on the turntable breaking up the beats to add interest while bass and horns performed by the rest of the band add more distinct flavour to the overall sound; there are a lot of fusion of influences and ideas and amalgamate astonishingly well.
Though the journey of this particular album is an interplanetary palette of sound and vision, it is a journey that tends to deal with turbulence as well as it being a very long haul flight. The album suffers from predictability and sounds like it wants to stay in the comfort zone of delivering chill beats and not delving outside and changing up the tempo or song structure too much. This becomes quite exhausting to try and keep attention, especially when the album clocks in at just over 66 minutes; it becomes monotonous towards the latter part and you find yourself wanting to make an emergency landing and take a breather. Some of the tracks on “From Mercury to Pluto” are not as engaging and interesting. “Costqualimeter” and “No One” are guilty of following the same formula as each other and “Master Plan” has no real direction; these tracks tend to trudge along at the same tempo and manner as many of the other 20 tracks and does not offer much variety.
Cooking with Caustic have produced a confident, chill and catchy debut album showcasing the talent and cohesiveness of each member of the collective. “From Mercury to Pluto” is full of chill-out beats and rhythmic reggae/hip-hop tracks merged with some fantastic guest performances that really add texture and seasoning to the album. It is an album perfect for playing in the background and letting it run its course as it creates such a mellow atmosphere, but I would not recommend for a casual sit down and listen; you will love the take-off but over halfway, you may think about where the emergency exit is.
