Full-on Delta doom from these Heavy Eyes, whose debut full-length is dripping with enough Southern cough syrup to make you forget you’re listening to a stoner rock record. Between the tumbleweed riffs of songs like “Wax Apple” and “Where is Wilder” to the Memphis medicine of songs like “Iron Giants” and “It’s Been So long,” Heavy Eyes slides on through the smoke and takes a midnight sail down the winding river of groove. Of course, this is a stoner rock record, a real lid-dropper, and the fuzzy psych-blues of songs like “5%,” “Voytek,” and “Supermoon” play right into your floating hand, man. A real solid album, this one, and The Heavy Eyes do awfully well to treat you like the custodial prize in the landmark case of Cactus V. Clutch, presided over by judge Fu Manchu in the court of Sabbath. Hell, you just have to have an affinity for bands with ‘leaf’ in their name, and The Heavy Eyes will do right by you.
Motherboar The Beast Becomes the Servant
Born of Fire Records
It’s been about five years since their debut, Raising the Death Toll, so when I saw that Motherboar had finally released their sophomore album, The Beast Becomes the Servant, I said to myself, ‘Oh yeah, Motherboar, I forgot about them!’ I’m not sure what took the band so long to finally return to the fold (perhaps drummer Benny Grotto was holed up in his Mad Oak Studios the entire time fulfilling his role as the busiest producer/engineer heavy music has ever known), but I’m so glad the Boston band is back to their brutal ways. I once referred to their debut as the ‘kind of beautiful mess you’d end up with if you spent your summers growing up listening to Motörhead, Clutch, Ironlung, and Wino, kicking chickens, and picking things out of your beard,” and I suppose not much as changed other than the fact that there’s a lot more sludge to the band’s metal than I remember. It’s still awfully mighty, black and frantic, though, and leans heavy on the hardcore, so an updated reference list might include Mastodon, Black Breath, Doomriders, etc., but dig all the slick riffs and salacious solos in amongst the callous, calculated crust; you’ll be convinced these guys are hiding some kind of cock rock codpiece under their extreme, bloody, broken bottle exterior. The Beast Becomes the Servant was a long time coming, but delivers every bit the aggression, anarchy, and acridity you desire. Or I desire, anyway. I’m not sure what you’re into, but if it’s not this, you’re in trouble.
Check out the video for “Croctosquatch” from The Beast Becomes the Servant!
Red Giant have always been somewhat of an enigma. They disappear for years at a time and just when you think you’ve forgotten all about ‘em, they show up at your door one day, ten stories tall, clutching a sledgehammer in one hand and a cluster of planets in the other hand, a shit-eating grin like a chasm on their face. Then all of a sudden it’s like they never went anywhere at all, and the reason they’ve only put out two albums in the last eleven years (1999′s Ultra-Magnetic Glowing Sound and 2004′s Devil Child Blues) is because they’re thick-chested overlords of the cosmic mean machine with some heavy duty responsibilities, like riding high atop choppers of flame into the heart of interstellar battle, forging lunar wars in the name of universal dominion. Only when they’ve defeated their space foes and captured the black skies above us do they settle down to tell tales of their conquests via macho, bubbling, dope n’ roll songs. Their latest episode, Dysfunctional Majesty, is another batch of bad-ass biker metal blues cut from blood-soaked denim and bathroom walls, which means it sounds like AC/DC, Alabama Thunderpussy, Beggar’s Ball, Dixie Witch, and any one of Wino’s bands all at once, in case you’re having trouble remembering. However, dig the Clutch-like groove on “These Satisfactions are Permanent” and the Sleep-like doom of “Silver Shirley” for some new twists on their gruesome, galactic sound. Hop on board this one, friends, because it’s one hell of an awesome ride and who knows when they’ll be back around for another spin.
The Heavy Eyes
Motherboar
Red Giant