Following just a year after their impressive debut, Time Traveling Blues is essentially a holding pattern for England's Orange Goblin, both in terms of quality and creativity. Opener "Blue Snow" slowly grinds into gear (revving Harley Davidson and all) and leather-lunged stoned giant Ben Ward soon takes over, leading his troops through the colossal riffing of "Solarisphere" and the pile-driving intensity of "The Man Who Invented Time." The spirit of Deep Purple is channeled into the organ-led opening to "Shine," which quickly devolves into a virtual remake of Sabbath's "Planet Caravan" before exploding into action with what is possibly the album's most memorable riff. Unfortunately, the band seems to blow their entire load in the album's first half, and the remaining material succumbs to that dreaded stoner rock no man's land of repetitive riffs, inconclusive jams, and indifferent vocal performances, none of which leaves any lasting impressions. Occasional bright spots pepper the Southern rock-ish "Lunarville 7, Airlock 3," but you just know these guys can do better. And thankfully they would with their next outing, the excellent The Big Black. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia