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Oh
man, just a couple of weeks ago I reviewed an album by a
band named The American Plague; it was your typical rock
and roll combo with much attitude and little in the
shape of music. Maybe that’s unfair, the dudes could
play, but for a rock and roll band they sounded too safe
and clean. Were they getting ready to hit the radio and
were therefore sounding safe for the masses? Who knows
and who cares? Personally, I want my rock and roll to be
dirty, and greasy, and wild-mannered and why not, even
hairy, which I think I am totally getting with this
Australian quartet.
Seethin’
Heathen
is the debut release of Downriver and it’s sure to satisfy to
most fans whose taste swims from AC/DC to Clutch to Black
Sabbath to Down and Corrosion of Conformity. The tunes are
straight up grungy rockers well-based on blues and classic heavy
rock. The playing is top notch, especially the solos of Hambone
and Rosco, both of whom downtune and groove like they hail from
the South and offer soulful soloing like they are black. To
their credit Downriver remain dirty and play with much attitude,
“Ghostly Spiel” is purely that; a stoner track stuck in one
channel. The boogey rock comes in tunes like “Offend Me Not, For
I Am the Gristly Hand of Death” which is an upbeat rocker
peppered with the creative use of wah-wah. Sure, we’ve heard it
about a hundred times, but fans, especially of Southern rock can
never have enough of the stuff.
To me
regarding rock and roll there are two kind of bands; those
playing it safe and obsessing over the cleanliness of their
recordings and those ill-mannered types like Downriver, only
concerned with ripping ass. Seethin’ Heathen is a good
start, but being realistic and keeping in mind that the members
are all experienced musicians, that’s what it is; a start.
Downriver is at their best when they get down on the dirt and
drop a song as massive as “Doombringer” which is by far the best
they’ve written because it is the maddest, grimiest heaviest
tune in here. Maybe they ought to keep it nasty.
MySpace
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