The Odyssey Cult

So it happens, just as we round onto the 20th anniversary of Comets on Fire’s swan song, Avatar, and the pangs of longing for their absence grow louder, there’s a new era of sorts for members of the long-loved band. Once an outlet for solo recordings, The Odyssey Cult grows from Ethan Miller’s lone swordsman standalone to become a full-fledged collaboration; a gathering of some of the greatest heads working today. He reconnects with Ben Flashman, another founding member of Comets, laying that as a base for psych sojourns with Steve Shelley behind the kit, Zoh Amba (Beings) on sax, Anthony Talibi (Carlton Melton) on keys, and Brigid Dawson (Osees), Inna Showalter (Magic Fig), and Paula Frazer on vocals. Now, to call this any sort of retread of Comets would be misleading, but it retains the band’s dynamic fire in its hearth, that’s for sure.

The album thrives on building to blistering peaks, descending into cavernous pools of sound, and scorching the speakers with an undying itch. The constant clash of Miller’s guitars, Amba’s noxious skronk, and the velveteen curl of various guest vocals makes for a potent brew. Miller’s never been one to hold back the fire, but in a deluge of hackles and harmony on Vol 3, he conjures one of 2026’s most surprising gems. Shelley pushes the pace, as he’s done in other collaborations with Miller lately and he and Flashman form an unyielding engine, letting the band slash across their rhythms with fog and fury. The project had long been buried beneath banner works by Howlin’ Rain, Orcutt Shelley Miller, and Feral Ohms, but by opening the doors to a fuller cast, it steps into its own as another essential arm of the Silver Current Universe. A hydra of heat, a forge of psych, drone, space rock, and prog; the new album is one to beat among the many highlights of 2026.

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