Review: Bask – The Turning

Style: Stoner metal, progressive metal, stoner rock, americana (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Elder, Witchcraft, Baroness
Country: United States
Release date: 22 August 2025

The space western is an enigmatic and, in some ways, oxymoronic subgenre of science fiction—rarely is one’s first thought The Final Frontier when someone mentions rangers, cowboys, and seedy saloons. Nevertheless, the genre saw a meteoric rise in popularity in the mid twentieth century only to crumble from oversaturation and hackneyed writing. Thanks to media like Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, alongside more ignominious examples¹, the early 2000s were a font of blazin’ saddles in space, giving the genre a new life up to the present day. The Turning, the latest release from North Carolina stoner metallers Bask, takes several cues from space westerns, promising a dusty and kaleidoscopic journey through pasture and nebula alike. Dig your heels in—this is gonna be a hell of a ride.

Speckled with spacey atmospherics, Bask indulge in a psychedelic-yet-focused take on Elder-style stoner metal. Straightforward, chunky grooves balance out the more exploratory asides, pulling the reins on compositions and keeping The Turning’s pieces from wandering too far outside the Kuiper belt. However, The Turning wouldn’t be space western without the western—flourishes of americana and Appalachian folk music abound, from the carefree banjo picking of “The Cloth” to the energetic honky-tonk chorus of “Dig My Heels”. The latter half of the record even betrays post-rock sensibilities, with layered climaxes and compositions centered around mounting atmospheres.

The Turning’s greatest strength is its compositional prudence—a common pitfall of stoner metal is an overall lack of focus or narrative arc, but Bask carefully pace themselves at every opportunity. The patient attack of “The Cloth” grows from sparse tom kicks and keyboards into a chunky, riffy behemoth, switching back and forth between the two across its runtime. Additionally, the band are unafraid of repeating ideas as a tool for contextualizing songs. “In the Heat of the Dying Sun” bookends its psychedelic center section with focused and precise chugs, bringing its ideas full circle by the track’s end. 

Even within this focused framework, though, Bask find room for adventurous songwriting. “Dig My Heels” is an absolute thrill, beginning with tumbling drums and fuzzy chords that lean into an infectious chorus complete with steel guitar. The real kicker, however, is in the song’s final section: twinkly chimes evoke fields of broomsedge on an alien planet before a fabulously cinematic post-rock climax. A gorgeous descending arpeggio and explosive drumwork slowly build in tempo as you hurtle towards the planet’s flaxen surface. This track is undoubtedly the biggest highlight of The Turning and a consummate demonstration of Bask’s marriage of the earthly and the celestial. However, I do wish that The Turning featured more passages that were as grand and powerful as the close of “Dig My Heels”, especially since the record’s massive peak occurs in the middle of the record. The title track, for example, delivers excitement and drama for The Turning’s final moments in its western-inspired opening melody, but doesn’t quite manage to ascend beyond its introduction.

Dusty lyricism augments The Turning’s ethereal sensibilities, loosely describing a tale of riding a trusty steed through wormholes that stretch the fabric of spacetime. The story opens up lots of room for depth and introspection, describing the loneliness in a journey with no conceivable end. “Long Lost Light” in particular taps into a softer vocal delivery that matches the narrator’s plaintive reflection. Lines like ‘cloth dyed in the thought / sat still as the moss / long lost were my visions / of valor and salt’ drip out like honey, and the line ‘silent stands and sweeping branches branding bands across your vision’ uses alliteration and assonance to cleverly paint a surreal forest setting. But like the ascendant climax of “Dig My Heels”, The Turning never quite reaches that same level of depth and intrigue in its vocal performance again. The vocals everywhere else are enjoyable and fitting for the style, but are missing levels to make the more forceful and grand moments stand out even more.

Bask have laid down a killer musical foundation on The Turning, adding a clever americana spin onto the sound of their stoner forebears and embodying a laser focus in songwriting uncommon among their contemporaries. While Bask leave some room to push the style just a little further and add a bit more level to facets of their performance, the ethereal quality of The Turning’s pieces cannot be ignored. Hop on your steed, set course for the Pillars of Creation, and enjoy the cosmic hoedown.

Recommended tracks: Dig My Heels, The Traveler, The Cloth, Long Lost Light
You may also like: Vokonis, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Cobra the Impaler, Boss Keloid
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Season of Mist – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Bask is:
– Scott Middleton (drums)
– Jesse Van Note (bass, vocals)
– Ray Worth (guitars)
– Zeb Wright (vocals, guitars)
– Jed Willis²
With guests:
– Clay White (trumpet)
– Franklin Keel (cello)
– Alex Taub (keyboards)

1. However, one can’t deny that Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ verse goes pretty hard. ↩︎
2. I scoured the internet and couldn’t find what Jed plays—if someone from the band could reach out and let us know, that would be great! ↩︎