THE DEFILERS
Metal Mountains
________________________________________________________
A bit of a
missed opportunity here. See, there’s an unholy wallop of skull-cracking
black thunder on this record, only it’s buried under a seabed of muck and
hiss. The under-produced sound might actually be on purpose, I dunno, but
I just wish the Defilers woulda gone top-shelf on the knob-twiddling,
because what a motherfuckin’ beast this could be. As it is, “Metal
Mountains” is still pretty ferocious; it’s just that it’s like a snapping
Doberman behind a chainlink fence. It really WANTS to do some damage to
your face, but it can’t. Anyway, enough about the sound, let’s talk about
the SOUND. These Defilers (not to be confused with the ‘billy band or the
street punk band or any actual defilers out there) are from Kentucky, and
they play a hoary blend of 70’s fried stoner-doom and mayhem-baiting
glam-dirge. The only other bands they bring to mind are the Cringe and the
PB Army, and neither of them sound anything alike, so prepare yourself for
a uniquely evil twist on rock n’ roll here. The vocalist sounds like a
half-strangled Danzig, the guitar player is clearly insane, the rhythm section
sounds like stone-cold killers, and the aptly named “Metal Mountains” is a
pill-crazy war on everything that tortures and torments with desperately
heavy rock n’ roll. Dig “Come On”, “Slave” or “Dog Bite” for three prime
examples. Like I said, it’s got it’s flaws, but keep your eye on the
Defilers. Give these freaks a budget and they’ll make an apocalyptic
masterpiece, believe it.
A bit of a
missed opportunity here. See, there’s an unholy wallop of skull-cracking
black thunder on this record, only it’s buried under a seabed of muck and
hiss. The under-produced sound might actually be on purpose, I dunno, but
I just wish the Defilers woulda gone top-shelf on the knob-twiddling,
because what a motherfuckin’ beast this could be. As it is, “Metal
Mountains” is still pretty ferocious; it’s just that it’s like a snapping
Doberman behind a chainlink fence. It really WANTS to do some damage to
your face, but it can’t. Anyway, enough about the sound, let’s talk about
the SOUND. These Defilers (not to be confused with the ‘billy band or the
street punk band or any actual defilers out there) are from Kentucky, and
they play a hoary blend of 70’s fried stoner-doom and mayhem-baiting
glam-dirge. The only other bands they bring to mind are the Cringe and the
PB Army, and neither of them sound anything alike, so prepare yourself for
a uniquely evil twist on rock n’ roll here. The vocalist sounds like a
half-strangled Danzig, the guitar player is clearly insane, the rhythm section
sounds like stone-cold killers, and the aptly named “Metal Mountains” is a
pill-crazy war on everything that tortures and torments with desperately
heavy rock n’ roll. Dig “Come On”, “Slave” or “Dog Bite” for three prime
examples. Like I said, it’s got it’s flaws, but keep your eye on the
Defilers. Give these freaks a budget and they’ll make an apocalyptic
masterpiece, believe it.