Style: Progressive Metal, Sludge Metal, Post-Rock, Yeehaw (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Mastodon, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Russian Circles, Voivod
Review by: Sam
Country: Canada
Release date: 19 July, 2019
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published on the July 2019 edition of The Progressive Subway.]
A good friend on Reddit of mine of username /u/Ulti was adamant that I’d listen to this album and review it. I was told that it was one of the best and most original things of the year, so my expectations for this were pretty damn high. Now I’m five listens in and… I still don’t know what to think.
There’s one thing for sure: Ulti was on point about the originality aspect. Struggling to come up with any real comparisons myself, I looked up what other reviewers had to say on this. “Mastodon meets Voivod” seemed to be the consensus, and while I can’t comment on the Voivod comparisons since I haven’t listened to them yet (it’s criminal, I know), I can definitely hear the Mastodon influences. And to be more specific, it’s Blood Mountain era Mastodon I’m talking about, which can especially be heard in the high tempo, fill-happy drumming, and of course in the sludge riffing. This is after all, a (progressive) sludge metal album.
What’s more about Bushwhacker’s sound is that it takes a lot of elements from post, black and death metal. In the upbeat moments they generally have a bit of the aforementioned Mastodonian sludge metal sound, but at the same times the songs are very spaced out and have post metal-like buildups, both of which become abundantly clear in the first two songs. In their more intense moments however the music can reach almost Death Metal levels of aggression (see: Brother in Blood). The black metal elements slip through with some tasteful use of tremolos as both a means to accentuate intensity and to develop the atmosphere. This band really does it all. There’s even some Iron Maiden-esque use of harmonies and phrasing in the guitar melodies and solos. It’s a pretty wild combo of things that really take a couple of listens to sink in.
Another big component of A Fistful of Poison are the lyrics. I’m usually not one to put much effort into lyrics, but since they are a central part of this band’s identity I had to discuss them. As you may have noticed from the album art, and the fact that I labeled this “Cowboy Sludge”, is that this band has a Western theme, with also some crossover to Egyptian mythology. A Fistful of Poison is a full-blown concept album with spoken word tracks to boot about cowboys who worship the Egyptian crocodile god Sobek through a hallucinogenic plant taken by squeezing it into cuts in your palm (hence the “kissing crocodiles” that comes up frequently). A barkeeper in The Saloon tells them they should ride west to The River Black where there’s an ancient temple with a cult of Sobek worshippers. I won’t go into much detail on the further plot, but the gist of it is that it was basically a sham by the barkeeper as the cowboys eventually die in the cave (which was supposed to be the temple). If you want to read more about the plot, read the review on CanThisEvenBeCalledMusic.com They went into full detail on everything there. And for all it matters, the barkeeper is my MVP of the story.
Now before I conclude this review I have to make some final remarks on the album. Production-wise it is just excellent all around, with a nice thick guitar tone, powerful, weighty drums and great fitting vocals which take exactly as much space as they need to. It’s a very throat-y growl that’s surprisingly articulate and light on the ears for harsh vocals. Honestly I’d say even folks who are usually turned off by harsh vocals wouldn’t mind these.
This album, however, is not without its flaws. Bushwhacker have this annoying tendency to stay in the same place for too long, making it sound repetitive. The album takes more than 10 minutes until the first real song comes about, as the first two are more (nearly) instrumental overtures and the third is spoken word. Then on Knives and Teeth they repeat the same groove for the entirety of the song, and The River Black also takes two minutes to get going. From there on the filler is largely eliminated, but the slow start really hampers the album’s replay value. They definitely could have cut a couple of minutes there. And what’s more is that their softer sections definitely don’t pack the same punch as their heavier parts, making the record feel even more bloated. Also some of the spoken word parts tend to be a bit corny.
Overall, A Fistful of Poison is a very innovative, well-written record. It takes a couple of listens to sink in properly, but on the flipside it’s the type of album the reveals more on each listen. If originality is something high on your list, Bushwhacker is where you should go, andI’m not one one to gamble, but I bet my ass this album is gonna massively please some Mastodon fans as well. Keep away from the crocodiles though. Dem boyz mean trouble.
Recommended tracks: Knives and Teeth, The River Black, Brother in Blood
You may also like: Astrakhan, Dead to a Dying World, East of the Wall (bandcamp)
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
Bushwhacker is:
– Rory O’Brien (vocals, bass)
– Cavan Egan (guitars, vocals)
– Geoff Woods (guitars, vocals)
– Sean Komaromi (drums)
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