Urge Overkill
Rock & Roll Submarine
UO Records

Soundgarden is touring again, Kyuss Lives (literally), and I’ve heard rumors of a new Screaming Trees album, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that Urge Overkill has returned with Rock & Roll Submarine, their first album in 16 years. This is rock n’ roll, after all, and anything is possible, especially when you’re dealing with legendary lounge lizards Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser. I have to think the ironic duo’s leisure suits fit a bit more snug this time around, but the Windy City wish-masters, whose glitter-pop alt-rock lit up the early 90s like a strip bar sign, have dusted off the medallions and move comfortably enough around well-constructed hooks on songs like “Effigy,” “Thought Balloon,” and the title track to convince you that they’ve captured that cosmic clairvoyance once again. But, unfortunately, there are some things time does change, and while Rock & Roll Submarine is pleasantly passable for a comeback album, it lacks a certain amount of chutzpah, really, which means it won’t knock you out like a lethal cocktail of supersonic cool and saturated bliss, which is something Urge Overkill used to do with incredible ease.

Listen to “Effigy” from Rock & Roll Submarine!

Backwoods Payback
Momantha
Small Stone

If there’s any immediate difference to be noted between Backwoods Payback’s 2007 self-titled debut and their 2011 Small Stone debut, Momantha, it’s the production (cheers, Mr. Grotto). That 2007 album was an ugly affair, a quagmire of lumbering stoner rock for hairy-backed troglodytes with revenge-ridden manifestos in one hand and a rusty hatchet in the other. Of course, that’s what made it so great; there’s never been any doubt about who Backwoods Payback is or what they sound like — kind of like Kyuss, kind of like The Obsessed, kind of like Devil to Pay, kind of like Acid King, and kind of like Scissorfight, but most definitely a lot like a boulder being dropped into a puddle of mud. Momantha, however, adds melody into the mix, and flexes a bit more muscle as well, but before you think that means the maniacs are city-bound to chuck curses and get library cards, be assured that this album is drenched in BP’s groggy-riffed pestilence. In fact, the album’s first half, from “You Know How This Works” to “Parting Words,” is a beast and is probably as road-ready and raunchy as BP will ever play it, but the second-half variety courtesy of the Urge Overkill alt-vibe of “Poncho,” the sludgy doom of “Velcro,” and the hardcore-tinged animosity of “Timegrinder,”  will keep you on your toes, guessing when, where, and under what modus operandi the band will strike next. BP aren’t reinventing the kill here, but I just can’t seem to definitively peg ‘em, which is an awfully high compliment to give. But there is something familiar here, isn’t there? Sometimes I think it’s that vocalist/guitarist Mike Cummings’ throaty howl reminds me of Pete Stahl — and, to that end, that BP remind me in some way of a woollier Wool — and sometimes I think that they’re out there all alone in the Pennsylvania thick, just them and the shallow graves they’ve dug.

Listen to “Lord Chesterfield” from Momantha!

Year Long Disaster
Black Magic; All Mysteries Revealed
Volcom Entertainment

It’s always a real pain in the ass when someone tries introducing me to a band by saying, “they’re the best band you’ve never heard of” and that’s mostly because I have heard of them, and merely suggesting I haven’t heard of them insinuates that I, unlike the much cooler, more maligned you, have my bearded head buried deep inside the business end of a pregnant alpaca.

That being said, Year Long Disaster is the best band you’ve never heard of.

I know. I’m such a dick. But forget about that right now and just pay attention.

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