Tuesday 13 November 2012

Dwellers - Good Morning Harakiri (Album Review)




Album type: Full length
Date Released: March 2012
Label: Small Stone

Track list:
1. Secret Revival
2. Black Bird
3. Vultures
4. Ode To Inversion Layer
5. Lightening Ritual
6. Old Honey

Review: 

“The Dwellers? Aren’t they some kind of pop-punk band?” I asked The Sludgelord. “Wash yer lugs out Furious” was his swift reply.

I didn’t bother to take his advice – I didn’t need to, cause after the first run-through of ‘Good Morning Harakiri’, it was quite clear this was about as far removed from a similarly named pop-punk group as you get, and whatever was clogging my ear-holes up was swiftly removed.

Comprising of Joey Toscano (from Iota) on vocals and guitar, Zach Hatsis on drums and Dave Jones on bass (don’t think it’s the same Dave Jones who manages Sheffield Wednesday, but I may be wrong), Dwellers play a fine blend of blues, sludge and southern rock, or as they call it – Gut Rock.

Have you ever seen the film From Dusk Till Dawn? Remember how well suited the band is that’s playing in the Titty Twister? Well imagine happening upon a bar in the middle of Redneck country. There’s a band up on stage playing there. That band would be Dwellers. Imagine for a moment that someone dared remake the old Burt Reynolds classic Deliverance. Dwellers would be the boys to call for the soundtrack.

I’ll be honest with you though – on the first listen I wasn’t quite feeling this album.

It took two or three listens to get right into it. Of course some of the tracks were more immediate than others, Black Bird being the most immediate for me, with its bluesy stomp and killer drum fills.

There’s certainly plenty of depth on this album. There’s only one track (Lightening Ritual) under the 5-minute mark and Vultures clocks in at an impressive 10 minutes of twists and turns, ups and downs, tasty guitar solos, rock-solid bass lines and (once again) killer drum fills.

If you persevere with this album you’ll be rewarded with some real, meaty, sludgy riffs, open-tuned, slide guitar, a touch of psychedelia, pile-driving drums and gallons of moonshine-soaked vocals.

There’s only six tracks on this album so there’ll be a real fight on to pick a favourite (Old Honey at the moment if you must know).

Do yourself a favour and check out Dwellers. If you’re a fan of ZZ-Top, Grady and riffs coated in fuzz, you’ll sure find Dwellers swell.