Album Review: BlackTusk - Tend No Wounds EP

The American South has one fine legacy of music; from country, to outlaw rock'n'roll, to swampy metal. This last entry has its origins in the wasteland of post-thrash metal and spawned legendary names in the genre such as Eyehategod and Crowbar. They have left an indelible legacy and have helped to pave the ways for bands like BlackTusk from 21^st century metal hotspot Savannah, Georgia. This impressive trio come armed with a crunching sonic assault and the breathless percussive energy that gives sludge its indomitable edge. Their new Tend No Wounds EP is the follow-up to 2011's Set the Dial and looks to carry forward on that rush of momentum. All the parts are in place for BlackTusk to make their mark.

While many of the original Georgia sludge proponents have left the swamp, BlackTusk are one of the ones that have stayed behind and kept the home fires blazing. They may not have the same name recognition among the metalverse that their contemporaries Mastodon, Baroness, or Kylesa have but they sure know how to kick ass. After the warm-up introduction track 'A Cold Embrace', the EP starts in earnest with the thrashing 'Enemy of Reason'. This track has classic Georgia sludge written all over it – the lurching riffs, the torrent of slimy basslines, the tandem of raw-throated voices, and the pummeling breakdowns. This is the stuff that gave sludge/stoner metal its good name in the first place.

Tend No Wounds finds the band having fun with their core sound and reputation. This can be found in the fake-out opening to the outstanding 'The Weak and the Wise' where the violins give way to pure vitriolic hardcore. It can be heard on the howling guitar chords that herald the arrival of 'Internal / Eternal' before going locking into a neck-snapping groove. It is in the Sepultura-esque tribal beat of 'Truth Untold'. The lean track list and no-frills production values of the EP suit BlackTusk perfectly even if the whole affair leaves little to the imagination. They may not be the ones to kick-start the revolution, but they are as rock solid as they come and know how to play to their strengths.

Rating: B-

Recommended tracks: The Weak and the Wise, Truth Untold

Album Review: Gogol Bordello - Pura Vida Conspiracy

The Ukraine's Gogol Bordello are the original gypsy punks and they continue their manic party agenda across the world. Their last album tapped into a dance-y international vibe with stunning results. Not only does this show a vital restlessness that characterizes a group like Gogol Bordello when they are starting out but it is actually necessary for their survival. On Pura Vida Conspiracy, album number six for this globe-trotting crew, the band draw in even greater influence from other cultures and it allows them to spin an even deeper tale of existential displacement. Underneath all of the bluster and beer-soaked bravado this band is about finding your place in the world as an outsider.

Trans Continental Hustle leaned away from the punk side of their sound and further into the gypsy side and this album certainly continues that trend. It is still thoroughly Gogol throughout, there are just more campy campfire singalongs than sweat stained ragers. It was inevitable as the band progress forwards through their career that the songs would have to become the focus over their endearing disorderliness. As the band ages the music remains strong even as the blistering euro-punk warps into swaggering pirate anthems. Try and listening to the opening combo of 'We Rise Again' and 'Dig Deep Enough' without picturing shipwrecked buccaneers with a crate of grog and ill gotten booty.

After there you get a taste of the acoustic side of their enormous personalities on 'Malandrino'. It used to be that when Gogol Bordello did “ballads” they stood entirely separate from the incendiary rabble-rousers. Nowadays they choose to graft parts of one onto the other; acoustic passages transplanted into party mode and chunks of energetic rave lurking in the love songs, which might explain the odd ramblings in 'Malandrino' about “crash crash crash and make-up sex”. The album closes out with the impossibly gentle 'We Shall Sail', an honest-to-goodness torch song from the heart. Just make sure you hang around for the hidden bonus track, the faux-metal 'Jealous Sister' complete with shrieking violins, thrash style guitar riffs, and doomy organs. Just when you think you know a band they pull a move like this!

All of these ideas are carried effortlessly by frontman Eugene Hutz's charm. He is a singular musical entity, practically a force of disheveled nature by this point, and he rightly dominates every song on Pura Vida Conspiracy with slurred affectations. This really highlights the potential weakness of Gogol Bordello – if you don't adore the unhinged vocal stylings of Hutz then you are never going to like the band. They live and die by the audience's acceptance of his character as their narrator. Unfortunately the returns are threatening to diminish for Hutz and the gang. Is it all starting to feel a little too familiar? Is there a way for gypsy punk to evolve? This is still a very fun record – a pleasant knees up for when you are feeling merry and shitfaced. They have been peddling their rock / klemzer / rockabilly hybrid for quite some time now and while it may not feel as dazzling and new as it once did there is still plenty of gas left in the tank. The tempos have dropped a little but the fires still burn. The passion of the entire group and their dedication to their musical craft is beyond question.

Rating: B+

Recommended tracks: We Rise Again, Dig Deep Enough

Album Review: Baroness - Live at Maida Vale

2012 was a year of staggering highs and painful lows for Baroness. The likable American metal quartet had released their critically acclaimed third album, Yellow & Green, and were living the high life on tour in the UK. On August 15 the band's tour bus left the road and dropped 30 feet off a viaduct. Fortunately all involved in the crash survived but this certainly put a dampener on their year. That line-up of the band never toured again, with Allen Blickle (drums) and Matt Maggioni (bass guitar) leaving the group in March 2013. The accident put what should have been a triumphant world tour on permanent hiatus.

The material from the Live at Maida Vale EP was made mere weeks before the crash. These four songs, all from the Yellow & Green album, were recorded at the legendary BBC studio and represent Baroness at their best. Those out there that decided to complain about Yellow & Green cited a lack of ferocity in the material, as if their guitar slinging metal icons had somehow gone soft. This was far from the truth, naturally, and the album allowed an established act to show off a new facet to their personality. Well, Live at Maida Vale realigns that ethos once again to that of a hungry live band. Each and every one of these tracks, given the professionally recorded live-in-studio treatment, had an added layer of punch and rumble that the original cuts arguably lacked.

This proceed with the one-two combo of Yellow's 'Take My Bones Away' and 'March to the Sea'. John Baizley's viking howl is nearly entirely swallowed up by the shameless amplifier worship of him and his band. These songs are freaking loud and kick like a mule. While those two tracks were always designed to shatter ear drums, the devious 'Cocainium' was made to seduce the listener. Some may not have bought into it initially but wait until they hear this punishing, bass-heavy rendition. The set closes out with 'The Line Between' and it roars with rock and roll thunder. Just check out the monstrous guitar solo from Peter Adams if you should find yourself doubting their credentials. Simply put these four men rock hard and don't give a crap who knows about it.

Live at Maida Vale turns four excellent Baroness tracks into bite-sized heavy metal thrillers. The EP is a window into a band playing around with and actively re-tooling their arsenal to suit their environs. If it weren't for the interruption inflicted upon them by the unfortunate bus accident in Bath this energy could easily have segued into album four. As it stands we will just have to patiently wait to see what happens next.

Rating: A-