Mammoth Volume

(TMC)
by Craig Regala

They just keep coming… rock bands hitting the deep-end of the pool and smelting ire ore mined from early ’70s prog/SubPop-era grunge, those good ole groovers Black Sabbath. I dig ‘m too, sure the rip-offs etc. will come, as in all things, but right now it seems like we’re armed with many fine discs from the past 18 months to help us make it thru while we’re tucked in bomb shelters waiting for Thee End. The basic rock set-up is utilized with accents coming from organic (non-synthetic), keyboards handled like these guys are pointed at covering, “Hocus Pocus,” or some other great rollin’ tumble your cool uncle would tell you about playing on 8-track as he was hoping Nixon was gonna get us the fuck outta ‘Nam. The mellow, almost lounge, jazz-based parts poke up a couple times, and for a full stroll in “closer to the sun,” and “Matthew 6:21” to wonderful effect. Just like Black Sabbath’s “Planet Caravan,” a side of The Sabbath Show that often gets down-played but is as emotionally-integrated into their “thing” as the stompass is.

All told, the tunes are strong, the singing personable, the recording a nice bashing, and if one of y’all wins the lottery, you could do a helluva lot worse than to put these guys, Fatso Jetson, Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, and Nebula on a world tour. So all you winners out there, do it. Not just for you, not even just for me… Do it for the children.
(106 West 32nd St. 3rd Fl. New York, NY 10001)