Release Date: August 22nd 2021. Record Label: Self Released. Format: DD
Slowpoke - S/T - Tracklisting
1.Stony Iommi 09:27
2.Slumlord 03:02
3.Sid the Cat ft. Al Yeti Bones 05:31
4.Miami Camo 05:24
5.Windtalker 05:02
6.Sanctuary 07:28
7.Slowpoke ft. Gordon McCready 09:12
Members
Ben Chapman-Smith: Bass, Vocals, Guitar
Cameron Legge: Guitar
Adam Young: Drums
Review
Slowpoke play a Punk Rock fuelled version of Sludge/Stoner Metal with the band having the good grace to add a twisted Psychedelic Groove to their self-titled debut album. Their record has elements of Progressive Rock and you feel that the band craft an adventurous style of music which can be heard in the excellent opening song Stony Iommi.
The song comes on like a Sludge/Death Rock battalion of heavy riffs with pissed off vocals to match. Slowpoke play around here and even start playing Psych Rock, Prog Rock and Hard Rock in different sections of the song. The song is quite mellow in the later stages and does have a “Post-Doom” flavour with the proggy guitars seeing Slowpoke pay homage to the legendary musician. The song can be too flashy at times but there’s more than enough Sludge/Stoner Metal cool riffs to keep everyone fully on board.
Second song - Slumlord - feels like a song from an entirely different band as this is LO-FI and in your face Sludged Out Punk Rock with fast paced Stoner guitars. The song is punchy and aggressive especially with the death growls that appear along the way.
Third song - Sid The Cat - features Al Yeti Bones who is a fantastic solo musician and lead singer of Gypsy Chief Goliath. The song is a solid Sludge/Stoner Metal song with a blues rock flavour coming into play and is brutally heavy that reminds me of DOWN in many ways. This is one of the best tracks on the album and I can listen to this song all day long. Heavy proggy guitars with a fine “NOLA” attitude being the glue that holds everything together.
The rest of the album sees Slowpoke carry on creating their own blend of Punk fuelled Sludge/Stoner Metal with interesting ideas contained on all of the songs. The album does lose focus at times but Slowpoke have this uncanny ability to play a heavy riff that brings everything back into place and you’re left with a debut album that is packed to the brim of awesome grooves and heavy tunes from start to finish.
The final two songs of Sanctuary and Slowpoke are the best parts of the album. As Slowpoke bring all their best musical ideas on these two songs with the band being CRAZY in all the right places and ending the album on the right musical note.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Infecting Cells PR for the promo.
Links:
Official | Facebook | BandCamp