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The good folks over at Sloth Tapes have put out a very nice looking split tape between Holy Dirt and Bubonic Bear (awesome band names by the way), and I say that because these days that tapes are all the rage in the underground every other dude with a high speed dubbing double deck and enough change to make some copies at Kinko’s has a label out there and some of these are putting out some shit looking releases. Unfortunately for the label, I have had some difficulty navigating their blog and I was even unable to find an image for this release there. No big deal.
Holy Dirt come out of Delaware and may be into keeping it down. Their MySpace page has zero info on them and they are not even included in Metal Archives. I don’t see much activity there and if they have thrown the towel too bad, because their racket ain’t bad at all. They are heavily indebted to The Melvins. This comes out clean on the third track “Groom Lake” where riffs drag unfashionably and weirdness ensues, especially in the vocal camp. Quality stuff if you ask me. The other two songs that are included here are high grain sludge. “Temporary Daughter” features very nice inward sounding guitars while "Ojos Rojos" wails and dooms in equal measure. I dig the vocals for this band. Contrary to what most sludge bands are doing the approach here is noise-friendly, a natural, not so much scream as much as a stretched voice. Auspicious.
Bubonic Bear seem to be working it proudly. I don’t think the production of these three tracks does them any favors. There is too much shine and bounce in the guitars, it is too hissy and in the end every cymbal comes out like a drill to you earholes, but that shouldn’t be enough to prevent you from getting properly rocked. Bubonic Bear function out of Philadelphia and are apparently quite active in the tri state area. Their riffs are grand and the drum style of Dustin Khebzou fits that of an arena act. OK, I don’t even know what I mean by that, but Bubonic Bear songs have this way to wrap around you. Sludge metal riffs properly twisting and bouncing right on time to the beat. By far the vocals are the most acerbic aspect of their music. A dry rasp that is an all too common flavor in these days of grime and sludge. Nice touch in closer “Open Sores”, just warm notes.
Holy Dirt MySpace
Bubonic Bear MySpace
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