HOGNOSE
El Sombrero (Arclight)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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The Black Sabbath influence is worn on the sleeve here and tattooed on the wrist under the sleeve for good measure. The vocalist is somewhere else, stylistically and sometimes almost literally, as in "find the lyrics in mix," and though none of this may sound like a plug, it's all good if you're a fan of that ultra-heavy sound, you can't get enough and you don't mind if your sources aren't necessarily stunningly original. In short, as this genre fan listened, his head did bang, all of its own volition. (I hate when that happens!) On the other hand, there are a few points when shortcomings glare brightly. For example, the 8:29 long "Muffin" is an instrumental that has a nice, haunting little melody to it, but somewhere along the way you realize why so many call this kind of music "stoner rock." You'd have to be pie-eyed not to notice or care that it sounds like they threw an unfinished song on the CD and called it an instro. Nothing happens, and for instrumental music to be interesting something has to happen. At the very least a guitar needs to carry on with the melody. The second half of this song is all rhythm guitar, drums and bass. I think that's called a backing track. It sounds like these guys can play pretty hard, so it might be interesting to see how they're sounding when they've had a little time to further absorb their influences. If you just want it deep, hard and powerful (hey, that's only dirty if you think it is, buddy), Hognose won't let you down. At times they'll even threaten to melt your speakers, like they just might with the Electric Funeralesque "The First Song" (which is actually the 8th song, but this isn't a Rubik's Cube, so let's not get into that). The riff is so deep down in the Texas ground it'll knock you off your feet. Not sure what the hell he's singing about, but it's the riffs, man, it's the riffs. If they can make this tune their template for quality and energy, look out world.

© 2005 - DJ Johnson