Album Review- Druganaut -'Druganaut'

Location: Newcastle, UK

From the thunderous sludge of low-end pioneers Iron Monkey to the cosmic freak outs of Welsh legends Acrimony, the Brits have always somewhat of an edge on their European and American peers in terms of producing proper gritty, gnarly stoner/doom bands.You wouldn't expect much less from the isle that birthed Sabbath  ,but even then, the UK underground scene is an embarrassment of riches at times.From the bleak complexity  of HARK, to the off the wall rumblings of bands like Valfader and Wolfshead, it seems there's definitely  been something quite strong and possibly illegal  being funneled into the water/Carling over the last couple of years.Now another bunch of down tuned miscreants have arrived to pound your eardrums, drink all your good beer and probably fuck your girlfriend as soon as you've fallen asleep.Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Geordie monsters Druganaut, and their monolithic debut self  titled album.

From the opening chords of 'Smoke The Dead', its very clear we're not fucking around here:Druganaut are the real deal.No cute attempts at 'the vintage sound'.No silly fantasy lyrics(apart from the pervy, sexual kind, but more on that later) and absolutely no attempt to placate the Metal Hammer set with watered down pop choruses.This is heavy as balls, hard hitting stoner metal in the vein of Crowbar or early Down, a wicked riposte to a decade of Toni And Guy groomed posers with Washburn guitars and Top Shop Metallica Ts. Druganaut's ace in the hole is front man Craig Relf, a man who sounds like he gargles broken glass and whiskey first thing in the morning as a warm up.If Relf were to recite One Direction lyrics as poetry, it would still sound scary as fuck, and its his throaty contributions that stand out ,investing every note with soulful invective and earthy conviction.Lyrically, Relf imbues songs with a vein of black humour and sinister storytelling nous,coming across as both darkly colloquial and menacing as hell.

That's not to marginalize the rest of the band of course, and credit goes to guitarists Kyle Partridge and Adam Sheriff for some of the grooviest, catchiest riffs we've heard from a band of this ilk in quite some time.Witness the elephantine boogie of 'Carradine's Closet', a poor-taste but high gain  tribute to the late B-Movie legend, or the sinister intro to 'Sober Again' , and be reminded just why you fell in love with this kind of music in the first place.Granted, not every track is a classic('Sex Face' is just a little overcooked and doesn't really fit with the rest of the tracks in my honest opinion) but for the most part  'Druganaut'  is a great collection of songs, a steroidal rhythm section and strong production holding the whole thing together.

If,like me,you find latter day Down and COC utterly disappointing, and miss bands like Raging Speedhorn in your life, you could do far worse than giving 'Druganaut' a listen.Weighty, weedy grooves and planet sized riffing,it's time to shake your bones . . .

Rating:8/10

For fans of: Crowbar, Down, Raging Speedhorn, Two Tales Of Woe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/druganautband

Band Profile: https://www.facebook.com/druganautband/app_2405167945

Ep Review - Druganaut 'Assemble'

Any regular visitor to this blog will know by know that we're big fans of Newcastle , England heavyweights Druganaut.And not without reason.With their debut EP 'Shake Your Bones', the Geordie doomsters established themselves as a band that not so much took no prisoners, and more force fed said prisoners a vicious cocktail of pills, cheap cider and overly strong dope , and shouted in their faces until said prisoners broke down in fits of, as Chris Morris might say, horrible tears.And while their newest effort 'Assemble' might be slightly less of an aural buggering, it's still sickeningly heavy, in all the best ways.

Opener 'Old Red' opens things up nicely, a warm southern fried guitar intro segueing into the mother of all weighty grooves , a mid paced , perfectly pitched stoner riff buoyed on by frontman Craig Relf's throaty roar .In fact it's Relf who acts as the bands ace in the hole. Coming from the Kirk Windstein school of lung bursting, throat flaying singing, Relf anchors songs with a distinctive, broken glass gargling delivery that adds an extra element of menace to the band's concrete riffola.

On the songwriting front , the band draw influence from the usual hotch potch of stoner influences, and one can spot less than subtle nods to Sabbath, Iron Monkey, The Melvins(particularly prevalent on the queasy bass intro to 'Denim Elliot') Crowbar, Down and a few others.Even early Machine Head can be felt in the band's streetwise groove, and it is fair to say the EP has somewhat of a classic metal feel, with a production that is crisp, clear while at the same time lending the band's guitar sound a nasty, sludgy edge that recalls Spanish doom lords Horn Of The Rhino in all their abrasive glory.The fact that the band clearly have a sense of twisted humour, evident in songs like 'Carradines Closet', a cheerily downtuned ode to everyone's favourite kung fu practicing pervert, just adds to the ear raping charm of these four songs.

All in all, this is mightily impressive stuff from a band who are slowly establishing themselves as ones to watch in the UK stoner scene, alongside the likes of Sigiriya and the legendary Orange Goblin, who the quintet are supporting for a couple of dates on their upcoming Uk and Ireland tour. Hopefully a full length can't be too far away.ASSSSEEEMMMBLEEEEE!!!!!

Rating:8/10

For fans of : Crowbar, Horn Of The Rhino, Two Tales Of Woe, Iron Monkey, Down

Listen to/Download the album here: http://soundcloud.com/druganaut-band

Stephen O ' Connor

bornagainnihilist@gmail.com

You Should Be Listening To . .. Druganaut!

Read that band name back.Go on.Just say it to yourself aloud even, and tell me that is not one of the best names for a stoner band ever conceived.Indeed, it seems that Druganaut's entire modus operandi revolves around certain substances that they shouldn't be even thinking of using, the little rascals.If you don't believe me, check out the band's bio on their Facebook page:

"Some bastards out there are on the march to ruin by experimenting with every cheap drug a cheap and nasty city like Newcastle upon Tyne has to offer. Other fools try and dampen the tedium of living in this fucking ugly city by playing in a loud and nasty metal band. The bastards in Druganaut are doing both. Formed at the bottom of a little and empty plastic bag out of the ashes of an over flowing ashtray. Druganaut have scraped their dirty knees on new lows looking for new distractions from the increasingly idiotic imbeceles that dwell in the city that surrounds. These guys play the blues for anyone who likes their blues to be brown and burning in a tea spoon. Metal for folk who want their metal to crumble from the heat of a lighter into a joint. Djent for people who want their djent to fuck right the fuck off and never return the fuck back. The best stoner rock that Newcastle has to offer is here my friends. Come catch it before they all od and die" . . .


Can't argue with that we reckon, especially not when the resulting din sounds as joyfully pissed off and concrete fuckin' heavy as these boyos.Imagine Crowbar , COC, Grand Magus  and Iron Monkey meeting after a night or three on a serious Buckfast and soapbar binge and knocking ten shades of shite out of each other and you'll start to get the gist of Druganaut's down tempo , bluesy racket.This is ugly music for ugly times, and you should be getting your hit as quick as you can before it's too late . . .

For fans of :Crowbar, Orange Goblin, COC,good BLS ,Two Tales Of Woe
Listen to the EP 'Shake Your Bones' @ http://soundcloud.com/druganaut-band/sets/shake-your-bones-1/

Stephen O ' Connor, Born Again Nihilist
bornagainnihilist@gmail(dot)com