First post of the New Year! I really have to work harder to get these out consistently... In any case, my holidays were great, the New Year's shaping up well, and I just celebrated a birthday. I was thinking - for a while there - that I'd have to burn an effigy of 2013 as a sacrifice to the Gods to ensure that 2014 goes well. So far, so good, though - I've got more articles coming out soon, and I'm working to diversify my publication base with a variety of local papers, journals, and magazines. Let the craft-honing begin!
On that note, I recently wrote my first film review, which was posted on a blog I co-write with some colleagues at http://blobloblaw.blogspot.ca/. I had so much fun doing it that I've started writing more. As a massive culture-consumer (which is a nice way to say I watch too much TV), I should have thought about this earlier. In any case, I figured that this would be a great venue to share my first album review: it's an "oldy but a goody" for a band I discovered last year. Musically, I'm comfortable knowing that it's not everybody's cup of tea - I can't even tell my grandmother that I listen to a genre called "stoner rock". Keeping that in mind, I hereby present this to the public. Enjoy.
Gravity X embodies both the broad, raw, vastness of the wilderness and the driving, pounding rush of the human experience. The 2005 debut of Swedish band Truckfighters, this album is characterized by massive fuzzy overdrive, intense beats, and enthralling riffs. Inspired by the American desert-rock scene legends Kyuss, with a sound that I’d liken to Dozer or Orange Goblin, the Orebro-formed Truckfighters have a penchant for putting out kickass albums – a trend that all started with Gravity X.
Paradoxically, the album’s diversity of tracks seems to underscore the band’s consistency of sound – instantly recognizable, but never repetitious. Gravity X starts strong with the velvety chugging of “Desert Cruiser”, progresses through the colossal throb of “Momentum” into the surprising brassy trumpet and magnificent drum fills of “Subfloor”, the alternating energy and introspection of “Manhattan Project”, and culminates in the subtle, twinkling odyssey that is “Altered State”.
Despite going through a series of drummers (“We have a very Spinal Tap relationship with drummers,” jokes guitarist Niklas ‘Dango’ Källgren), the band plays tightly together, and I suspect that they’ve really hit their stride. There’s something for everyone here, so whether you’re new to the fuzz-rock scene, a hardened initiate, or a grizzled metal veteran who remembers the good old days, you really should give this record a listen. It will not disappoint.
