Early Man - Self-Titled EP (Monitor)
Metal. Straight-ahead metal. No self-aware ironic posturing. This isn’t the Darkness paying tribute to Slade (which I love). This isn’t Andrew WK howling another party anthem (which I also love). That stuff is all tongue-in-cheek glam compared to this. This is stoner metal. This is the music of choice of all the forgotten kids. The ones who were wear jean jackets with leather sleeves and reek of pot at the bus stop. This is good shit. They get across more in three songs than a lot of bands get across in three albums. The early-Metallica meets Iron Maiden fueled "Fight!" (excerpt) kicks things off with a call to arms ("All right, so you wanna fight / My fist are sticks of dynamite / Fuck you if you’re talking to me / My fuse blows straight like TNT"). "Death Is The Answer To My Prayers" (excerpt) evokes early Black Sabbath with heavy riffs, lyrics peppered with demonic references, and high end warbling vocals of a young Ozzy. And with "The Undertaker Is Calling You" (excerpt), the two minute guitar riff intro is metal guitar wanking at it’s best, giving way to a song that kicks everyone’s’ ass that’s in earshot.
What’s this? It was produced by Matt Sweeney? The same guy that did the Superwolf album with Will Oldham? The guy who used to lead Chavez and was in Zwan with Billy Corgan? Yeah, that’s right. And the rumor is that David Pajo (Aerial M, Slint, Tortoise, Zwan) is going to be joining the band on bass when they record their full-length record for Matador...
What the hell is it with all the alt/indie rockers getting into metal? First the Fucking Champs held the torch a light for all things metal with their instrumental homage to the new wave of British metal. Then Pelican started getting some notice. Can you feel the ground swell of an indie metal revolution coming on? It may be too early to tell, but if this EP is a precursor or things to come, we’re all going to be in pretty good shape come the moment metal becomes hipster fodder.
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With Sweeney and Pajo, this project sounds pretty promising.
And the Fucking Champs are great - definitely on the edge of hipness. I was never a big metal fan but would love to see more indie rockers/fans take on the genre. Could produce very interesting (sexy?) results.
agreed. i always overlooked metal in my youth, but came around to understanding and appreciating some of it's sensibilities later on. this is defintely a great ep that leads to the promiseof a stellar lp. i'm really looking forward to see if these guys can have a big impact on the indie scene.
also, if you like the heavy sounds of the fucking champs, i'd also recommend pelican. it could be said they fall in the same camp, but they are dramtically different in approach, but just as heavy. great stuff.
I have to say, that I agree with you. These cats blew me away with "death is the answer to my prayers", and yes, the song is very "SABBATH"! I've got hope for music yet with guys like this!