Buzzov*en – “Violence From the Vault”

Although they broke up in 2001, the legacy of Buzzov*en was one that helped pave the way for both barn-burning acts like Queens Of The Stone Age and slow droners like Sunn0))). But to date, no one has ever captured in full this North Carolina group’s mixture of in your face punk and slow-burning metal. Outside of former front man Kirk Fisher’s current outfit Weedeater, of course.

This posthumous release finds Buzzov*en at the height of their considerable powers. The last recordings of a sharply honed lineup that also produced the classic album Sore, these tracks have the sound of hazy demos, but lose none of the band’s raw power in the process. In fact, the bass-heavy tracks do much to emphasize the low, leaden riffs shared by Fisher, guitarist Buddy Apostolis and bassist Brian LeDarrell Hill. They spend almost the entirety of this half-hour in a fiery lockstep, fending off film samples and Fisher’s own guttural roaring.

We also find the band at their most experimental, in the shape of a 15-minute collage of tongue-speaking, unhinged detuned guitar and spartan drum hits entitled “Nod”. The title – and lyrics – refer to the lapse into a heroin-induced sleep (a theme the band touches on again on this album and in much of their discography) which works well with the song’s jelly-legged aesthetic, but it drives the point home too heavily and runs on far too long for its own good. With that song at its center, it kills the momentum and skin tingling snap that the rest of these recordings carry proudly.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. Mainline
02. Paintake
03. Breed
04. Nod
05. I Never

Run Time: 33:33
Release Date: 01.05.2010