To call this 30 minute treat an EP almost seems to be an insult, a tiny dismissal of the worthiness of this project, and I'll ask you . . . nay, beg you . . . not to make that mistake. Stone Axe came from out of nowhere last year and literally blew our collective Ripple minds with the intensity of their retro-blues rock. Names like early Whitesnake, Free, Bad Company, amongst others just flew from our lips like so much spittle. We were so excited we could barely form words. Now, hot on the heels of that full-length debut, the ever restless genius that is Tony Reed comes raging back with a 7-song platter that truly pushes the boundaries of the EP format.
Featuring three hot-as-shit, brand spanking new studio cuts and amped up with 4 songs from the first album, recorded live at Rocket Records, this EP is a total feast of chuncky blues-rock beef, served up barbequed, fresh and steaming hot. The three studio tracks pick up right where the album left off, digging back into that retro-Cov mine, to uncover some beauties. "Ain't Gonna Miss it," is absolutely timeless blues rocking, adding a touch of the Black Crowes into its blustery swagger. Immediately, it's clear that Tony Reed will never run out of riffs thick enough to hang your coat on, and that Dru Brinkerhoff's stunning vocal performance on the debut album was no fluke. There he is again, just as soulful, just as whiskey-coated in his bluesy tone. Beautiful. "King of Everything," picks up the intensity and the crunch, rocking on like the '90's and nu metal had never happened (and many of us wish it hadn't!) "Those Were the Golden Years," throws us a twist, with the mercurially talented Tony picking up lead vocals to go with playing every damn instrument on the track. Damn, there seems to be nothing the cat can't do. Give him a hammer, some nails, a stack of blueprints, and I bet he could come up with the Taj Mahal.
Once you've had your taste of the new tracks, kick back and dig into the groove of the live cuts. I'd heard from our Ripple brethren Woody, that Stone Axe can tear it apart live and these cuts leave no doubt. "Black Widow," is dark and menacing, with Tony's guitar searing behind Dru's heated performance. "Shine On," is a mini-revelation of modern blues rock, and the epic "Skylah Rae," is . . well . . . epic, losing nothing in transition from studio album to live performance. "There'd be Days," ends it with a Faces-esque romp, full of unbridled live energy.
Really, it's no secret, we worship just about everything T. Reed lays his hands on and this album is no exception. If you dug the debut, don't even hesitate long enough to blink before you pick this up. If you didn't catch the debut, but the thought of some gut-busting, raunchy and rocking blues-busters sounds enticing, Stone Axe is for you.
http://www.myspace.com/stoneaxe
No, seriously, this one got me at "hello." Or rather, it got me at the opening, massively distorted industrial synth that starts of this terrorizing blitzkrieg of Norwegian Industro-groove and roll. Think some of the best moments of Rammstein irreversibly bonded to the rocking crunch of Metallica and you'll get a feeling for where these insane Norsemen are coming from. Monstrously groove heavy, these riffs don't so much rock as they tremble. The boys call their sound "Pamela Anderson masturbating at a freak show" and I won't argue. Many people would pay good money for both!
Each track erupts off the disc with as much power as an exploding inferno. Check out "Carousel" on the Myspace player, which is the first track on the EP I got. Wait till the industro-distortion wears off, wait until the jackhammer drumbeat starts to kick in, then keep waiting. Wait as the feedback drenched guitar wail starts to sink down into that fucking mother of all industrial metal grooves. Holy crap. This song doesn't just get up and go, it bursts out of the stratosphere. This is the way I like my metal. Loud and mean and meaty riffy, but infinitely groovy with a bottom end that just makes me want to jump on my desk and do some dance so embarrassing my kids will want to run away from home. The vocals are perfect also, gruff and gargled enough in the throat to be soaked in testosterone. I'm not one for high-pitched wailers. I like my vocals meaty also, like they're coming from a gut that's been partially digested in acid. Oh yeah!
Moth Circus never let up all the way through the 4 tracks. "Death Living", takes off with a tasty GnR like guitar intro before dropping down into one beast of a COC-inspired piece of industro-sludge. And the guitars keep chugging, damn they keep on chugging! "Stay Wrong" drops some seriously nasty distortion onto the guitars and bass without ever losing that omni-present groove. "Dark Sunshine" throws everything for a loop with its flamboyant tribal percussion intro before bringing the rock on.
I don't know much about these cats. Four guys from Norway. They play mean-ass, groove-infested rock and roll and they're tinged with a hint of pure metallic madness. That's all I need to know. I bought my ticket. I've joined the Circus.
www.myspace.com/mothcircus
It might seem like a bad sign when a band starts off their debut EP with a cover version of a popular song, already made famous by someone else's cover version, but have no fear. Black Robot's demolishing, AC/DC inspired retake of JJ Cale's "Cocaine," wasn't done for a lack of inspiration. Rather, this destructive musical cyborg takes the framework of a song we all know and love and simply turn it on it's ears, instantly making it their own. AC/DC inspired doesn't do justice to the sound here, it's JJ Cale as re-imagined through the minds of Angus Young and Bon Scott. And the riffage just never ends. This just may be one of the best cover songs of the year.
With a pedigree that includes band members who at one point or another were all members of Buckcherry, it shouldn't surprise you that we're gonna get some pretty fricking gritty rock and roll on this massive slab of classic-inspired rock. Besides the obvious AC/DC adoration of the opener you'll find hints of the Black Crowes, Sabbath, the Who, some Zepplin and seemingly just about any other classic rock band that these guys tossed into their cuisinarte, hit the frape mode, then poured the broth all over their naked bodies. "In My Car," fuses a purely modern rock riff and beat to a mid-section that just screams The Who. "Love On a .45" drops in some Janes Addiction into the frenzy without missing a beat. And the pace just keeps up, all the way to the "we're not the Stones," terror of "Dissatisfaction."
As I understand it, the robots have a full-length album out there now, with 13 killer cuts on Formosa Records. If these 5 songs are any indication of what lies in store on that disc, I guarantee you that we'll be hearing much more of Black Robot in 2010 and beyond.
www.myspace.com/blackrobot
--Racer
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