Buzzoven
At A Loss (Off The Record)
by Doug Sery
The publicity (i.e., rumor) that preceded this, my first encounter with the supposedly dangerous and mad world of North Carolina’s Buzzoven, was such that I was almost ready to lock the wife and kids up in the basement until I remembered that I don’t have a wife and kids and I live in a basementless building. This is Boston, not Idaho.
Anyway, At A Loss, their third full-length CD, promises everything that I’d been led to believe about them. Kicking off with a title track that would make The Accused, circa Return of Martha Splatterhead, proud, Buzzoven flirts with just about every style of heavy music known to someone from North Carolina whose primary influence probably comes from eating lots of Ring-Dings and watching MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, before heading out for a scintillating evening of cow-tippin’ and beer-drinkin’.
As a matter of fact, the influences are so broad and used so liberally that it’s difficult to get a grip on what they’re all about. Whether the plodding Melvins-esque sludge of “Loracet,” the mid-’80s thrash sound of Corrosion of Conformity in “Plow,” or the faithful rendition of E.L.O.’s “Don’t Bring Me Down,” (O.K., it isn’t very faithful, it more closely resembles a very ugly divorce), Buzzoven has dived headfirst into the heady melange that is unpopular heavy culture and come up with someone else’s laurels wrapped around their neck. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a fan of the Saturday-morning comic-book antics of Gwar and White Zombie, you’ll enjoy “the hatred, the fear, the anger, and the pain of the world” that is Buzzoven (well, at least that’s what their press release says). Samples from what sound like someone’s impressive collection of film noire and b-grade exploitation provide a fitting atmospheric entrée to all 13 songs and they leave the guitar pyrotechnics to the spandex-clad inhabitants of Guitar Player. As befits their now somewhat clichéd struggles with heroin (Sub Pop pretty much eliminated the novelty factor from that previously sacrosanct bad-boy calling card), their sound would match nicely with a bare room lit by a sole light bulb and littered with little, crumpled-up balls of aluminum foil. Yep, like the ads say, this isn’t a trip through Scarborough Fair and Buzzoven isn’t likely to be invited to the next Lilith Fair. For that reason alone, it’s worth picking up this CD and pointing your speakers at that idiot down the hall who keeps playing Jewel at 7:00 in the morning.
(1942 NE 147th Terrace Suite A North Miami, FL 33181)
