By Andrew Bansal
Brooklyn-based band Primitive Weapons have released their debut album on Prosthetic Records, a very concise 7-song effort with a total duration of merely 25 minutes. Honestly, I had previously never heard of this band, but the fact that they recently signed to Prosthetic Records initially drew me towards them, and the couple of tracks they made available for streaming pre-release caught my attention. So I decided to check out the full album as soon as the opportunity presented itself, and I must say, I’m intrigued by it. The music is so eclectic that it’s nearly impossible to classify this band under one single sub-genre.
The opening track “Good Hunting” can be best described as a weirdly interesting blend of hardcore and sludge with a spacey vibe to it. A somewhat similar pattern is followed in “Quitters Anthem”, although it is relatively rich in its guitar sound, and also intertwines some clean vocals and stand-alone percussion to go with the doom-infused aggression.
The remaining five tracks continues to present varying amounts of these elements, at varying speeds, and that’s why this album is so complete within itself, even though it’s so short. “The Death Of Boredom” is as progressive as anything else on the album, but it consists of the fastest segment to start with, instantly creating a grip on the listener’s mind. On the other hand, “Big Chief” and “Oath” are slow, but their sheer rawness definitely makes them the harshest, most aggressive tunes on the album.
Hardcore, sludge, doom, stoner metal, or whatever else you might want to call it, one thing is for sure. It takes a little time for first-time listeners to get the hang of what this band is trying to do, but once that happens, this debut album of theirs has its impact. These are the kind of tunes that seem to sound better and make more sense with repeated listening, and will certainly sound even more powerful in the live setting.
With a debut effort boasting of a set of seven incredibly weird, bleak, intense and eclectic tunes, Primitive Weapons are off to a great start.
Rating: 8/10
Track Listing:
1. Good Hunting
2. Quitters Anthem
3. The Death Of Boredom
4. Or Do Ideas Have You
5. Big Chief
6. Oath
7. Black Funds
Record Label: Prosthetic
Release Date: March 13th 2012
Links:
http://www.facebook.com/primitiveweapons
http://www.primitiveweaponsband.com
http://prostheticrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/prostheticrecords