Artist: Earthride
Label: Doomentia Records
Released: 2010
Length: 52:12
Rating: 4/5
The year was 2000, and at the turn of the millennium Dave Sherman, the uncompromising bassist of Spirit Caravan, decided it was time for something new and fresh. Earthride were born and started spewing out the kind of filthy riffs we’d enjoyed in full with bands like Corrosion Of Conformity and all the saints of the timeless Southern swamp. Out of the fertile mud of doom capital Maryland, flames have been blazing more than nicely for a while now, fanned over the past decades by bands like Iron Man, Pentagram and the aforementioned Spirit Caravan. The geographic roots of this new fusion of sounds are therefore a more than fitting send-off before you spin Something Wicked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4d-79hW2qo
Sherman once said in an interview that the reasons for such an ominous take on bands like Black sabbath, Pentagram, Witchfinder General and similar monumental names of recent history are to be found in the murky pools of the nearby swamps, and the fourth outing from these Maryland veterans of fatally attractive sounds follows the legacy of that mighty past to the letter. Since a name brands and stamps you, Something Wicked is honestly dark, ominous and uncompromising down to the last atom of its being. Unlike the modern technical wonders, Earthride went for the heavier, more brutal path of catching and recording ideas, so the entire album was tracked the old-school way, on A-DAT tapes, and the soul and essence was coaxed out of the console more than successfully by Chris Kozlowski, also known as Pentagram’s producer. The result is a record that spews wild anger, fury and doom pre-smoked in the stink of motorcycle exhaust, and what you hear goes hand in hand with records like Vampire Circus and Taming Of The Demons, without doing the Earthride sound an inch of injustice. Sherman’s dirty vocals sound like a possessed mix of Lemmy and Phil Anselmo. Earthride serve up a really filthy, raw guitar fuzz tone, and beneath the layers of devastating thunder from Kyle Van Steinburg’s riffs, a wreath of grotesquely shapeless bass from Rob Hampshire weaves in quite nicely, along with an organic feel for drumming entrusted to Eric Little.
The album holds constant tension from the opening title track Something Wicked, while the Clutch-like playful Make Up Your Mind breathes in much less oppressive slowness, and is without a doubt one of the most infectious tunes in Earthride’s discography. The murderous groove continues in the delicately built beauty of Destruction Song, which conjures up the outlines of rebel pride and Southern stubborn defiance and passion. Your scattered attention snaps into sharp focus during the acoustic intro of Zodiac. Sherman ramps up the mood Down-style with ever more distorted layers of guitars and bass, while the rhythmic foot-stomping and filling the gaps in your ears come with the mellow Watch The Children Play, where a herd of steel-hardened bison on doom tranquilizers thunders through your brain. A shot of adrenaline gets injected into your somewhat drowsy heart by a raw hymn to steel beauties, Grip The Wheel, and the more direct metal-sludge excursion down the dusty back roads of Route 66 continues with a fresh muddy dose of hallucinations in the hellishly slow and scorching Supernatural Illusion. Earthride save the grand finale for a coherent straight shot, Force Fed Fear, which leaves you with a fistful of mud in your mouth, and fueled up on sludgy kerosene you sail, satisfied, into the safe harbor of well-known sonic fullness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rHbtOGnzz0
Something Wicked isn’t looking for new recipes to satisfy listeners’ appetites, but it fills a good chunk of the void that gapes in your heart between releases from the top-tier grandmasters of stoner-sludge. I’m thinking of Down, The Clutch, some dirty Fu Manchu and anything even more subversive. Earthride are the Southern gentlemen of the club underground, and Something Wicked is practically essential listening for everyone who carries sludge, metal and smoky horizons in their heart, along with honest, unpretentious but fatally attractive old-school doom!
This review was a collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.
Lineup
Dave Sherman – vocals
Kyle Van Steinburg – guitar
Josh Hart – bass
Eric Little – drums
Guest musicians:
– Scott “Wino” Weinrich – guitar and vocals on 8
– Dawn Wagner – backing vocals on 9
Production
Chris Kozlowski & Earthride
Track list
1. Something Wicked
2. Hacksaw Eyeball
3. Make Up Your Mind
4. Destruction Song
5. Zodiac
6. Watch the Children Play
7. Grip the Wheel
8. Supernatural Illusion
9. Force Fed Fear
