This Texas band reminds me a great deal of the winning combination of sounds that Atomic Bitchwax used on their less coked out punk racing moments. You know the times when they had had catchy songs and grooves? I loved that album. These guys are not limited to just that kind of straight forward rocking, they are able to pack the bong and dish out some very 70s cruising grooves as well. At the end of the day could you draw comparisons to Queens of the Stoneage? Yes, but Monster Magnet was doing this before those guys and this band is carrying the tradition well. "Get in the Car .No Tome to explain" does go into a more jammy solo section I like but, jamming aside the songwriting on the first to songs is a notch above.
They take the jamming to the next level on " Diamond in the Devil's Grinder". It has a more Pink Floyd feels as things like sax drip out from the more New York grooves. After the first three songs it was not what I was expecting. This is overall less metal and more rock n roll. At times the flavor of that is darker and steamy like how they creep into "Santitario del Sol". It has a big progressive swing to it's progressive vibes. Dynamically it gets pretty big. This is sonically powerful and gets in your head with a trippy majesty. There is more of a stoned out fuzzy boogie to " Exodus" which carries a heavier stomp. I really like when they lay back a let the palm muted groove create a darker space. You can hear some Doors influence when things break down into a simmer.
The last song "Bare Bones" ends things really strong. There is a retro groove to it without being derivative of any classic rock band that comes to mind. What hooks me in with these guys is the range of what they can do and their hooky dynamic song writing. The songs are not just containers for their jams but set the stage for them to flow smoothly, so I have no problem rounding this one up to a 10. If you are looking for some new stoner rock this is an album that must be heard.
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