This album is one of the coolest, albeit the weirdest, Iíve heard in a
long while, and it is quite difficult to describe what these guys sound like. Think Urge
Overkill meets Hank Williams, Sr. meets Bauhaus meets superstitious Appalachia. All I know
is that it sounds really good, and really, really creepy.
The cd opens with a track called ěBrimstone Rockî, which has this
unbelievably driving bass line, punctuated by this evil riff played... on a banjo. The
sound taps into this crazy kind of ěDeliveranceî backwoods feel, which is really fucked
up. The whole song is about how Satan is crawling around on the roof of this womanís
house, trying to get her outside so he can seduce her. All this is sung in a twisted and
slurred singing voice by the lead singer, David Eugene Edwards. The whole vibe of this
song is just plain wicked, and the album has just begun.
The title track is probably the oddest of the bunch, offering an
ominous blend of accordion and lop-sided, sloppy carnival music played on a broken
xylophone. Words really can do no justice to the weirdness of the song - itís like the
band had to be hopped up on some mad stuff just to think about making music that odd.
Now Iím not saying the album is just weird and has no real
listening value. Far from it. Songs like ěMy Narrow Mindî feel like the ultimate road
music; they have great drumming, and the mixing job is outrageous in its complexity. When
you listen to it, you feel like you are watching the beginning of some movie, where a guy
is riding across the desert in some old boat of a convertible, about to stir up mad
trouble with the locals, maybe starting a brawl in a rowdy bar on some back road in New
Mexico.
When it comes right down to it, these guys make dirty and scary
Southern rock, and do a helluva good job in the process. I know youíll probably really
like it or really hate it, with no in-between. Donít say I didnít warn you.
