By Ryan Falla
Sweat Lodge is what would happen if Black Sabbath was chomping down on LSD instead of smoking dope. Releasing ‘Tokens for Hell’ as the final EP to their catalogue before a 2017 hiatus, ‘Sweat Lodge’ goes out in style and flair as the members move forward to new and great opportunities.
You need to have ‘Tokens for Hell’ in your collection, not only because it’s an A++ piece of work, but it very well may be the last Sweat Lodge record to come out for a while if they do return to the fold. ‘Tokens for Hell’ introduces you to classic stoner metal floating on clouds of psychedelia. Right out of the gate, Sweat Lodge drops you into a world of psychedelic desert tripping with the track ‘Life Goes On’. The vocal stylings of Cody Lee ring heavy with tones reminiscent of Ozzy Osbourne, his high-pitched vocals adding to the growing levels of psychedelia that build up throughout the record.
Immediately after jamming their way through the soft airs of the desert, Sweat Lodge goes in full ‘Black Sabbath- Vol.4’ mode with ‘Lost The Sun’. Listening to this track calls to memories of tunes like ‘Planet Caravan’, the soft ominous air carrying the music into a full-on 180 of standard blues rock jams before settling back into the otherworldly tones explored at the beginning of the song.
As this is an EP, it’s not heavy on content, three original tracks and one cover making up the total of this record; regardless, the quality is still through the roof. Sweat Lodge’s cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Precious and Grace’ shows off a fantastic ability to spin a classic with their own musical voice.
Sweat Lodge finishes off this killer EP with the title track ‘Tokens for Hell’, an absolutely entrancing track built from the grooves of drummer Caleb Dawson and a constantly driving jam-bass laying down heavy rhythm to further the intensity of the groove.
‘Tokens for Hell’ is a phenomenal EP that packs more quality into 15 minutes of music than most records can put together over a full-length album. It is a shame that Sweat Lodge won’t be releasing new music in the foreseeable future, yet the quality of this EP along with their catalog of full releases offers more quality than many bands can put together over a whole career.
All I know is that, if Sweat Lodge does make a return, I will be jamming out with the EP ‘Tokens for Hell’ until that day comes.
Rating: 9/10
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Record Label: Brutal Panda
Release Date: March 10th 2017
Track Listing:
1. Life Goes On (4:41)
2. Lost the Sun (5:01)
3. Precious and Grace (ZZ Top cover) (2:58)
4. Tokens for Hell (3:17)
Total Duration: 15:57
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