SweetBeast – Illusions

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · Published March 14, 2025 · Updated March 14, 2025

SweetBeast is a psychedelic fuzz rock band from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. They consist of Eric Gorzynski on vocals and guitar, Alex Graham on bass and backing vocals, Colton Schofield on drums, and John Hermary on vocals and guitar. Formed in 2017, the quartet just released their debut album called Illusions on February 21st 2025. Containing six tracks in forty minutes, the recording was released on Humalien Records.

“70/30” begins the album with clean guitars, protruding drums, and guitar lead flourished accents. The slow build up of instruments has a nice textured psychedelic aura for the first two minutes of the song. The track shifts back in with a wave of heavy fuzz, wrapped in atmospheric tones of heavy rock. The vocals have a warm melodic and deep tone that encompasses the music perfectly. The unhurried and deliberate flow has an existential groove that reels you right in. The music breaks off now and again to incorporate faster, rocking, shredding leads that transition back into the main trudging rhythm. The eight minute opener takes the charge in a heavy trampling drive down a doom laden trek of rocking terrain. The second track “Thunder” starts with a warm and trebly bass riff that erupts into a rocking phased out psych rhythm. The song speeds up and then contorts in some heavy decelerated chords. The music expedites back into a rocking groove as the vocals settle in. It’s a more straightforward rocker with a warped out proggy ending.

SweetBeast transition the music into seventies acid blues on the next track, entitled “Dream Eater”. It has an airy twist of psychedelic wonder with clean and hypnotic sounds. The song engenders a mind altering state of consciousness in its hallucinating enchantment of alluring sounds. The band articulate a broad spectrum of audio excursions in their music. The vocals remind me of the late great Mark Lanegan, with how they are sung. The fourth song “Midnight”, dives back into the energetic riff rock spectrum with a hard driving rhythm of scattered psych and fuzz. The catchy chorus bodes well with this track as they transpose elements of spacy vintage blues. “Plastic People” has a heavy demented vibe that reverberates doom rock and prog together. The band never settles on one particular sound and opt to shift back and forth between slow and devastating doom and fuzzed out riff-centric rock. “Plastic People” plays on the former and has a streak of psychotic derangements within the song. It’s a freak out voyage into a new dimension.

The final song “Illusion” has a haunting inclination embedded within the track. The heavy doom layered opening riff has a powerful and intoxicating effect. The twisted and layered vocals has a creeping essence that permeates the song with a strange and peculiar brilliance. The menacing and brooding riffs entangle the music with dark and eccentric tones. The song clocks in around eleven and a half minutes total but has a silent pause after the first five and a half minutes. The silence carries on for over a minute and then the band crank back in with a stellar rocker with exuberant and soulful vocals. I’m not sure of the origin of this second piece (original or cover?) but it’s fantastic nonetheless. The sound is very catchy and dynamic with over the top melodies and ample amounts of rocking psych.

SweetBeast delivers a bombing debut album with Illusions! The four talented musicians are on top of their game and are really making a big statement and impact with these six tracks. I could definitely see this recording being in contention for debut album of the year. It’s that damn good and offers an eclectic and astounding tapestry of fantastic music.