'Eggnogg' are a heavy psych and doom
band hailing from Brooklyn, New York. This is their 2011 full length
record 'Moments in a Vacuum'. This is one for those evenings when you
want some serious music to challenge as well as entertain you; heavy,
trippy and inventive in equal doses...check it out.
''Magog'. Ancient movie soundtrack
music and narration is broken by a thick, ultra-fuzzy, slow chug and
as the voice says “...a unique and distant journey” the track
erupts in all its weight and brightness like an elephant's death rattle.
Singer Bill O'Sullivan's voice seems to come at us from the far end
of a tunnel, so rich and reverberated is it. As the track pushes on
past the five minute mile stone, it twists and turns a writhing path
around more movie sound bytes and the speakers of my headphones are
becoming overwhelmed by the end of the squall.
Track two, 'Raking in the Dough', is a
relatively chilled out, old fashioned affair compared to 'Magog'.
Pivoting on later Hendrix style minimal riffs and
thick-as-Ben-and-Jerry's fuzz. Guitars weave around like rope spun
with wah and again our sensibilities are challenged by bizarre film
voices. We sail headlong into the brief, very Tony Iommi styled intro
of 'Wheel of the Year'. After a few fleeting moments of beautiful
clean guitars we are faced with a brick wall of riff with a steam
hammer rhythm pounded out by drummer Ryan Quinn and guitarist Justin
Karol while O'Sullivan indulges in all things Layne Staley in his
vocal: a potent mixture. After six minutes we go into a nice simple
groove to help you relax. Here the overdriven bass guitar comes
through nicely and one thinks of what we love about Geezer Butler.
Over 11 minutes, gradually the track has shifted from a Traditional
Doom sludge party to a jammy blues rock beer drinking song.
'Nebuchadnezzar' opens oddly
melancholic but cheery and settles into an old Blue Cheer vibe of
steady grooves with warm, cozy guitars. The heavy load of its almost
12 minutes I can imagine is one to experience live. Suddenly things
take a turn in the Neurosis direction with 'One Monster's
Confession', with studio noise giving way to unmercifully distorted
bass guitars, over which O'Sullivan forces out a pained, sludgy
vocal, and it's all over in two and a half minutes and we drift into
the trippy purple waters of 'Cydonia'. Clean guitars with a touch of
watery chorus effect plays a descending melody that threatens to
break out at any moment, but it remains restrained and let's lead
guitars go to work.
Next we go into the title track,
'Moments in Vacuum'. A voice over which sounds as if it came from an
audio book recites a chilling account of a man in an airless
environment dying, all the while a Mastodon-in-a-cheeky-mood sounding
passage plays behind and O'Sullivan displays some of his more unique
vocals recorded here. Finally we are faced with 14 minutes of
'Rhythmic Past'. A riff playing in reverse makes a creepy intro and
clean tones, as dirty as can be, already lend this track a sense of
Isis at their best. Wandering vocals and stark acoustic guitars bring
us to another voice over and a quote from 2001, A Space Odyssey “My
God, It's Full of Stars” when all the heaviness of the record comes
out in one. Finally, just south of 15 minutes, the ancient movie
music comes back to play us out.
Eggnogg are no doubt a band to watch in
months and years to come, to observe the impact they will have on the
current stoner scene. This is a very innovative piece of work that
the band must be applauded for: a rich mix of fuzzed out and acoustic
guitars, inventive use of sound bytes and sampled music, lyrics you
can sink your mental teeth into and grooves to satisfy that
mysterious part of your brain that demands rhythm. Innovative and
traditional all at once which is always impressive. Check this record
out now!
Eggnogg – Moments in Vacuum, Palaver Records, 2011.
Rating: 7/10
Standout Tracks: Wheel of the Year,
Moments in Vacuum, Magog.
For Fans of: Sun Grazer, Black Sabbath,
Isis.
Listen Here: http://eggnogg.bandcamp.com/album/moments-in-vacuum
Edward Gerard Brophy
bornagainnihilist@gmail(DOT)com
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