Drugs Dragons start quick and fuck you up hard, but then they leave ya with a long comedown. Not a bad life-questioning comedown. Rather, you get stuck with glimpses of your previous heights, and false signals of their return. Until you realize that you aren’t getting back where you want, and the feeling dissipates into nothing. And in the aftermath, you wonder if you pumped it up more than it pumped you up. In other words, II & I/II begins with this big psychedelic garage ripper, replete with snarled vox buried and blended, that just won’t quit; literally, there were several parts where you thought it was the end of the ride, but then they take ya for another worthwhile spin. Once the first track finally relinquishes its last breath, Drugs Dragons charge into a march on a psychedelic spiral. The spiral continues, feeling as though you’re moving neither up nor down, yet the ride is thoroughly grand. But then it descends furiously until burns out. Next up is a wild and danceable blast, but it sounds pretty accessible after what was just put forth. After that, kinda felt like the jams were being unenthusiastically spewed out more than kicked out. The rest of the album nonetheless maintains aspects of the big start, and doesn’t whimper as such, but it didn’t go out with its bang.
–Vincent (Dusty Medical)