Release Date: September 08th 2023. Record Label: Firelight Records. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
The Magpie - The Magpie: Tracklisting
You Are A Parasite
Ceremony For A Fat Lip
Juice Glass
Just One Drop
Derailed
Fix It
The Lurker
The Sleepy Eye
Freaking Out
Flesh Wound
Members
Erik Sugg - Guitar/Vocals
Brian Walsby - Drums
Mike DeLoatch - Bass/Vocals
Review:
The Magpie are a Punk/Doom/Stoner/Noise Rock/Heavy Metal band featuring members such as Erik Sugg (Demon Eye) and Brian Walsby (Double Negative, Snake Nation and Polvo) within their ranks. The band is rounded up by Mike DeLoatch. They have just released their self titled debut album and it's a glorious style of violent Retro-Rock where the grooves are mostly driven 90's Underground Stoner Rock/Metal with a killer 80's Hardcore Punk and off-kilter Psychedelic Rock.
The album has been recorded by the legend Mike Dean which only adds to The Magpie's Doom/Stoner Metal credentials. The Magpie have fun on this album with a more Noise Rock driven Power-Trio delivery throughout the album. There's a buoyant "outsider" energy with the sludgy 90's sound that was all the range back in the day. With the vocals having a more Punk Rock/Heavy Metal essence to them. The Magpie feel inspired by artists such as Black Sabbath, Motorhead, TAD, Soundgarden and The Melvins on the early tracks such as: You Are A Parasite, Ceremony For A Fat Lip and Juice Glass.
The record is quite short, clocking in at twenty eight minutes but The Magpie manages to cover a lot of creative ground within that time. The music is quite riff-centric with The Magpie exploring many different styles and themes within the Heavy Rock underground arena. There's a subtle Speed Punk element that allows the band to play at a furious pace. The music is constantly heavy with screeching guitars and superb levels of Low & Slow delivery which will appeal to fans of Guitar Reverb and Fuzzy Feedback.
The vocals from both Erik and Mike are mostly from a Doom/Occult Rock perspective but work amazingly well with whatever style of music The Magpie plays throughout the album. The lyrics are quite playful with some wicked creative insight from the band mostly on tracks such as Juice Glass, Just One Drop, Derailed, The Lurker and Flesh Wound.
The Magpie deserve credit for making music that is always constantly evolving from what came before it. Not one song sounds the same. There maybe similar ways of playing the music, however, The Magpie delivers an album that feels quite different for the bands the members are mostly known for. This album does have wicked sounding production values that feels like the album could have been recorded during the classic days of Underground Heavy Rock but still having an essential modern day feel.
Another aspect that I admired from the album was Matt's heavy hitting bass lines which added a gloomy Occult essence of the album with Erik and Brian providing excellent instrumental moments on guitars and drums respectively.
Overall, The Magpie have delivered a superbly entertaining album that fans of the Doom/Stoner/Punk Rock scenes should ultimately check out now. As there's a ton of fantastic sludgy creepy sounds for The Magpie to entice you with...
Words by Steve Howe
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