As one of Japan's great psych acts of the 60s announce their first ever U.S. gigs, our writer craps his pants in public.

I'm not going to say that Flower Travellin Band is better than Black Sabbath. I will however say that their cover of the first song off of Ozzy, Iommi and Co. first full length, which just so happens to be called “Black Sabbath” might possibly be the better of the two.

What does that tell you?

So upon hearing the news that the almighty purveyors of all things Japanese doom-psych circa 1968 will be playing their first ever American shows, I screamed “holy fucking shit” in the middle of a crowded coffee shop.

Immediately, I contacted guru of all things heavy, the man known as Plastic Crimewave to put into perspective how great Flower Travellin Band really is because, frankly, the right words to describe this are currently hard for me to find:

“Satori in particular is a brilliant slab of utterly unique heavy Asian raga rock–the timbre of the shrieking vocals take on that of an indian woman somehow.”

There you have it. This could possibly be one of the most important events in the history of the universe.

Flower Travellin Band, “Black Sabbath” (cover)

November 22 and 23 at Knitting Factory.