Release
date: August 1st 2017. Label: Self Released Music. Format: CD/DD
St
Ranga – Tracklisting
Space Orangutan
Mark Of The Outcast
That Fire Inside
Burning Boosh
Red Dead Riders
Song Of Fire And Ice
Band
Members
Doug McFarlane-
Bass/Vox
Ty Boniface - Drums
Doug Robertson -
Guitar
Review
New Zealand band of ginger ruffians
- Bloodnut - return almost twelve months after their superb debut
album with St. Ranga. Another cool take on a well-known Metal album.
Though this time with Metallica's derided album - St. Anger. Last
time they took a shot at Kyuss seminal classic album - Blues For The
Red Sun. Bloodnut play a bombastic kind of Punk driven Sludge/Stoner
Metal sound with the band having a subtle tongue and cheek approach
to their music.
Nothing has much changed here with
the band carrying on their modern sounding Sludge/Stoner riffs.
Though this album does have a more spaced out feel especially with
the opening track - Space Orangutan. It has a Kyuss/Red Fang approach
but the distorted punk sounds make the band have a harder edge. The
lyrics do have a very humorous feel but Bloodnut make it counts where
it matters most and that's with the music.
They have written some
fantastic classic sounding heavy metal riffs merged with familiar
psychedelic sounds. That's the longest track on the album clocking in
at almost nine minutes. It's a good job that the song keeps you
entertained throughout.
The next three songs Mark Of The
Outcast, That Fire Inside and Burning Boosh are shorter songs that
allow Bloodnut to get straight to the point in playing more direct
sludge riffs. Mark Of The Outcast and Burning Boosh are perhaps some
of the standout songs on the album as you can hear moments of vintage
sounding sludge/stoner metal ringing through your speaks at a loud
volume.
The production has improved
immensely since their debut album. Everything is clearer and has more
focus.
The final two songs on the album Red
Dead Riders and Song Of Fire And Ice sees Bloodnut return to play
familiar epic riffs first heard on the opening track. The songs can
be quite deafening at times with the band excelling once again with
the lyrics. Who knew that you can write such fantastical heavy songs
about being "ginger"? I thought they were over-stretching
the idea on their debut album.
Nope. They've found more weird and
wonderful tales to sing about being ginger. I'm not complaining as
I'm a fellow ginger myself.
I applaud the guys for writing
something so simple and dear to their hearts that they can create
songs and album after album of the perils of being ginger. Sure it's
all very tongue in cheek but I wouldn't tell these heavyweight
sludge/stoner metal bruisers to stop. I would tell them to carry on
as long as they can. The album is a violent powder-keg of
Punk/Sludge/Stoner Metal fury that should enhance Bloodnut's appeal
and popularity to the masses even more.
I still prefer their debut album
compared to St. Ranga but that's not to say this is any less
entertaining than their debut album. Far from it, St. Ranga has the
power and intelligence to stand on its own merits and be classed as a
brutally heavy and supremely entertaining album.
With Beastwars taking a sabbatical
at the moment, Bloodnut have the potential to take over the position
of New Zealand's premier Sludge/Stoner Metal band.
Words by Steve
Howe
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