Ok, so folks have been asking when I intend to update this here blog. I've tried a couple of times but I'm finding it hard to focus and reign in my 'all-over-the-shop' thought patterns, until this morning. I had my ass and ears kicked in by a band and it made me want to tell you all about some bands lately that have been rockin' my bizarro world.....
SHRINEBUILDER 'S/T'.......Need I say any more?
Wino. Dale Crover. Scott Kelly. That guy who was in Sleep but is now in Om. A veritable doom metal supergroup. I've been waiting for this one since I first heard about it baaaaaaaack iiiiin the miiiiiissssts oooof tiiiiiiime, and it finally dropped onto my doormat yesterday. I've been dodging people offering me downloads of the 4 track promo version of this since I wanted to experience the whole thing......and boy am I glad I did.
NOW, if there is ONE thing you should know about me, it is THIS -
I LOVE SCOTT 'WINO' WEINRICH.
I WORSHIP HIM LIKE A GOD.
He is to me what Clapton and Gilmour are to boring 'blues' obssessed pothead fucks. So I've been DYING to hear this, what with me ALSO being a long-time MELVINS lover, and it does NOT disappoint - despite what the naysayers are naysaying about it (since even before it was even recorded!). Sure I have one or 2 minor reservations about it, but they're really not enough to spoil my enjoyment of this hefty slab of solid ROCK.
I was in a baaad mood this morning when I got up, slapped this baby into my CD walkman as I headed out of the door........and was almost instantly grinning the shit-eating grin of an apple-happy idiot with a particularly crisp and shiny Granny Smith in his sights. 'Solar Benediction', the said opener, comes in on a particularly thumping set of drumb-clubbing from Mr Crover before alighting into a scorching Wino-led riff-fest, with Winos' soulful vocals providing the cherry on the top. WHOA. I was in LOVE baby! When Scott Kelly joins the fray, blends his gruff bark with Wino and the riffage turns COLLOSSAL, its like a fucking MOUNTAIN falling in on me.
The music ebbs and flows and then powers back into YUGE RIFFS OF DOOOOOM, with Wino giving us his tastiest licks with a guitar sound like an Assyrian Lion roaring its tits off.
'Pyramid Of The Moon', track 2, kicks in with another BELTER of a riff that had me particularly excited as it reminded me rather heavily of 2 riffs of my OWN, written for the late They Are Cowards. It even had a TONE like my own guitar sound, so as you can imagine, I was grinning THAT grin again.....waving at magpies and huge potentially murderous hounds and generally making like a Cheshire Cat.....and yes, I DO have a beard (private joke). In fact, as far as actual tracks go, all 5 present here are total killers............
BUT
........Al Cisneros. Why? Seriously. I mean, he's not a BAD bassist - far from it - but he IS nothing more than a one-trick pony. I mean, the guy has been coasting on the exact same vocal and bassline since Sleeps' Holy Mountain back in 1992!!
There is absolutely ZERO variation in what the guy does. ALL of his runs appear to be in exactly the same key, and his droning vocals just bore me rigid. Thankfully, he only gets to do a couple of solo vocal spots here and there, but I can HEAR his predictable bass runs WAY more than I'd like to. Y'know, I have nothing personal against the man, but if he NEVER made another record again I'd dance a fucking jig......rant over, back to the superlatives.....
So, yeah, just go get it. Really. I hope it kicks your ass and makes you smile like it did me. God knows you could DO with it.
http://www.myspace.com/shrinebuildergroup
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