After being out of action for much of the 1990s, guitarist Jesus Acedo, the mainstay of Black Sun Ensemble, was on board for the group's first full-length album in nearly ten years, Hymn of the Master. There was much continuity with their previously noisy post-psychedelic instrumental excursions, and also some different tangents. For one thing, Acedo sang on a few of the tracks, like the opener, "Hymn of the Master," which took a surprising, and not too successful, funk-hard rock attack. Most of the disc, though, is devoted to guitar-dominated free-form psych-hard rock extemporizations, though perhaps with a grungier and funkier edge than previous Black Sun Ensemble releases. As BSE had milked the psychedelic instrumental groove a lot prior to this, there was nothing wrong with trying to branch out. But Acedo isn't much of a singer, and the thin echo that cakes his voice does him no favors. More importantly, the songs lope around with busy improvisation that has little in the way of melody or form, often mulling over grinding progressions that grate rather than elevate, the standard guitar-bass-drums joined by Brian Maloney's sax, clarinet, and sitar. It gets kind of suffocating by the time it approaches the half-hour mark. But the final songs cool out the mood a little with increased use of the sitar and spacier, more placid guitar buzzes and noodlings, as if reflecting the aftermath of a trial by fire that's just burned out.