Devout classic-rock students that they are, Canadian duo Crown Lands no doubt understand the importance of an epic live album in cultivating a band’s mythology. As a document of a November 2021 livestream performance, Odyssey, Vol. 1 may not be attached to a legendary location like Madison Square Garden or Pompeii, and the roar of a crowd is conspicuously absent, but this career-spanning set is nonetheless teeming with stargazing grandeur—this is the sound of stadium rock in the age of COVID lockdowns. And it’s a testament to how guitarist Kevin Comeau and singer/drummer Cody Bowles can effortlessly re-create the psych-metal majesty of “Mountain” and the gliding, Rush-worthy grooves of “End of the Road” without any studio finesse or supporting players. But this ambitious band has never sounded mightier than when the shapeshifting 15-minute progasaurus that is “The Oracle” emerges from its mid-song ambient section and takes flight in a hail of David Gilmour-esque guitar fireworks.
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