Release Date: July 29th 2022. Record Label: Argonauta Records. Format: CD/DD
Badlands - S/T - Tracklisting
Icarus Landing
Speedeater
The Abduction Of Barney Hill
Philosorapture
Iron Strider
Toxicology
Trenchfoot
Angel Of Gasoline
Signals, Saucers, Satellites
Members
Marc Vincent (Bass/Vocals)
James Oxtoby (Guitar)
David Murray (Guitar)
Christian Hardman (Drums)
Review
Badlands is the debut full length album from Man In The Woods and is a mixture of songs from previously released EP Badlands Part One and featuring new songs from the unreleased Badlands Part Two. The saga is now complete with the new "full length" version that sees the band play a dynamically powerful style of music that bridges the gap between the elements of Stoner, Sludge, Doom, Psych Rock and Grunge that ultimately make-up this new album.
The album has abrasive and heavy vocals throughout with the band perhaps being a more apocalyptic style of Sludge/Stoner Metal. The sound of the album is raw and unpolished in places but allows the band to get more bang for their buck within the heavy volumes department. Maybe a sense of realism was added to bring a more true feeling to the SCI-FI based themes of the lyrics contained on the album.
Man In The Woods play a style of distorted FUZZ Rock on the album which is one of the strongest aspects of their music that you can instantly warm up on the excellent opening tracks of: Icarus Landing, Speedeater and The Abduction Of Barney Hill. Full-throttled Psychedelic Stoner Rock sounds spliced with Sludgy Atmospherics and a kick-ass grungy vocal attitude allowing Man In The Moods to be more than just your average WEEDIAN inspired band. The album is quite easy to follow and sing along to with Speedeater and The Abduction Of Barney Hill having great lyrics to remember and interact with.
The music does become heavier, distorted and even progressive on the later stages of the album. Heavy guitars fuse with Desert/Stoner Rock melodies with Grungy attitudes that allows the music to be hard to categorise at first.
Badlands is a jam packed album running near the fifty five minutes mark. It's good to see Man In The Woods covering many different sounds from the Stoner/Sludge Metal underground whilst leaving themselves the creative opportunity to explore other areas of music.
Other standout songs include: Philoscapture, Iron Strider, Toxicology and "Signals, Saucers, Satellites" which are the most daring, heaviest and boldest songs on the album that ultimately prove what a great band Man In The Woods actually are.
With the right mix of fast-paced grooves and sonic exploration, Badlands is an exciting and action packed slice of underground rock that will appeal to fans of Valient Thorr, BEASTWARS and The Brothers Keg.
Excellent and Highly Recommended.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Man In The Woods for the promo.
Badlands will be available to buy on CD/DD via Argonauta Records from July 29th 2022.
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